Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Three Houses, all rights to the owners.
Rite of Rebirth soon. Not yet, but soon. Also, this will be the last chapter (at least for a while) that Marianne will have a significant part in. Her arc is (mostly) finishing up here. I go into a lot of little details about how succubi work, because yes, there was still more. Also, Claude training and studying history.
Claude will admit he's guilty of hubris sometimes. He's maybe a bit too confident in his combat skills, but it's not like he's incompetent. He's highly competent in fact, just not as competent as others, and his mentors from Jeralt's band seem to delight in reminding him of that over and over and over.
"You call that a shot? You're at least two centimetres off the center." Jarvis huffs. "Get the arrow and try again."
Claude keeps his expression forcefully neutral. He just hit four bulls-eyes in a row, and the first time he misses this asshole acts all high and mighty.
"This is the only the shortest shot of my usual practice." Jarvis scoffs. "With this target you should be able to hit a bullseye every time, all the time."
Claude pulls the arrow out of the target and walks back to the shooting spot. Jarvis can mock all he wants, Claude isn't going to pass up lessons from an expert archer.
So he takes his firing position once again, draws his bow, and fires. The arrow hits the bullseye as expected.
"You were slow." Jarvis notes with a hint of scorn. "What are you practicing for? Shooting birds? You don't have time to be slow in a battle. If you're going to practice, do it properly!"
Rudely put, but what Jarvis is saying makes sense. Claude needs to be practicing the motions he'll be doing in an actual battle, not these slow deliberate shots. You don't get to shoot like that in a battle. Most of the time you need to be fast and constantly reposition yourself.
So Claude fetches the arrow once again and makes his way back to the shooting spot. This time he makes sure to draw and fire quickly, and manages to get another bullseye.
"Well?" Jarvis asks, raising an eyebrow. "Why did you only shoot once?"
Claude stares at him silently. He once trained under Nadar, who had a similar teaching style, and he learned the best way to deal with this sort of teacher was to just say nothing.
Plus, Claude gets petty satisfaction out of seeing their frustration when he refuses to talk to them.
"You're not going to get in a battle and just shoot once are you?" Jarvis asks. "Of course you aren't. Get that arrow and try again."
Claude does so, and rolls his eyes. This guy is quite full of himself, isn't he? Claude hasn't even seen him shoot yet. Is he even as good as he claims he is? Claude isn't going to test that though, better to play it safe. Jeralt doesn't seem like the type of person to recruit someone incompetent.
While Jarvis is annoying, Claude's other mentor is just scarily competent. Considering he has a bit of background knowledge on her, he'd say he has good reason to be scared of her too.
Claude peers around the edge of the Blue Lion's classroom. His current mission is to find and hit (fist, arrow, dagger, anything) his mentor before she hits him. Considering his mentor for stealth is Acrim, supposedly a professional assassin, he doesn't think he has a very good chance at winning this despite his above-average stealth skills. It's not impossible, he's bested assassins before, but he suspects Acrim will be a tad more competent than the cheaply hired assassins sent after him in Almyra.
No, Claude doesn't expect he can beat Acrim one on one. That's why he's going to cheat. Heck, Acrim didn't establish any rules so he may not even be cheating. Sure, he may have had to pay by taking on that person's chores for a day, but that's a small price.
He's lucky he found out that person was a witch, or else he would have never guessed they were a skilled potion-maker.
The ace sits on his belt. A small, inconspicuous vial that looks like one of the many antidotes Claude keeps on his person at all times.
Claude makes sure to keep looking up. The best place to hide is above someone, because people seldom look up. He expects Acrim to make use of that, if only to test that he knows this basic fact.
Claude could be acting more stealthy. He could be up on the rooftops, hiding in trees, or even blending into the mass of students near the dining hall. He could have changed his clothes as well. But he hasn't, because he has a different plan. He wants to one-up his mentor and prove that he's competent without any of those tricks. He's dressed as normal and sticking to areas without a lot of other people which makes him much easier to spot.
It also means Acrim can't hide in crowds. A trade-off. Claude's plan relies on having a clear target and no one else in the way. He doesn't want collateral damage.
Is this overkill for a training exercise? Absolutely. But it's going to be damn satisfying if it works.
The other issue is that Acrim could hit him with a dagger, but he actually doesn't expect her to do that. If her training methods are anything like Jarvis, then she's going to try and take him down in the most embarrassing way possible to show how much he has to learn.
And underestimating him like that is going to cost her.
Claude moves over to the Golden Deer classroom and steps inside. He intentionally keeps the door open just a crack. Just enough that someone can't slip inside without moving it, and so he keeps an eye on the light on the floor coming from the door. If it's opened any more he'll see it.
That said, Claude also knows you can get in through the roof. There are certain tiles that can be removed to reveal a hole where some boards rotted away, and you can slip down to the rafters from there. However, those tiles are on the side of the roof where the door is, so light will also shine down from the roof if Acrim removes the tiles. Claude knows exactly where that light will appear too.
He tries not to grin when he sees a patch of light appear on the floor. The roof tiles then. Claude picks up his canteen, an empty canteen, and pops the lid. He then takes the vial and subtly pours the potion into it before putting the vial back on his belt. He does this as he walks through a blind spot of the roof entrance. He knows about this blind spot, just behind a pillar near the far corner of the room where the bookshelf is located, because he's investigated the roof entrance before during his nighttime snooping.
Claude pulls his eating dagger out and flips it so the dull end is where the sharp side would be. He carefully looks behind the bookshelf, as if he expects her to be there. He then swiftly drops his dagger, downs the contents of his canteen, and spins around.
His timing was perfect. Acrim lands on the ground just as he turns to face that direction. She looks like a proper ninja, dressed in discolored and tightly wrapped grey clothes that would effectively break up her shape against stonework. The perfect clothes for stalking someone in a city.
Too bad Claude really doesn't need to aim for this attack to work. He takes a quick breath as Acrim leaps towards him and spews out the contents in his mouth.
The potion Claude had obtained was from Annette. She's a witch (which was actually shockingly easy to find out, apparently it's common knowledge among the Lions), a species well known for their potion brewing capabilities and she was no exception. This particular potion is a variant of the dragon-breath potion which usually allows you to spew fire or any other element. By adding a spider's spinnerets and adjusting the spell a bit, Annette managed to make a spell that allows one to spit extremely sticky webbing.
Acrim is fast, but not sufficiently so. The webbing hits a massive area, coating half the room (and Claude's target) in silken strands that form droopy lines of white and hang from the rafters after the force of their launch has worn off.
Acrim is pinned to the ground, her whole body covered with the stuff. She manages to pull a dagger and slash away some of her bonds, but Claude easily strolls over and taps her legs with his own dagger before she can free herself.
"I-" Claude coughs. He reaches into his mouth and removes a few extra strands of webbing. "I win."
The woman is silent for a moment, then chuckles. "I suppose you are. Byleth warned me, and I suppose I should have listened."
"You thought he was exaggerating my skill?"
"Yes." Acrim says honestly. She cuts off the remainder of the webbing and accepts his hand up. "Though I can see I was mistaken. How did you know I entered, incidentally?"
"Removing the roof tiles during this time of day lets light in."
"And I thought you wouldn't notice that." She muses. "Though I also didn't expect a modified dragon-breath potion. Do you keep those on you all the time?"
"Nah, I got one especially for this. I figured you might underestimate me and wanted to make a point." Claude says. "I've dealt with assassins before. Not through such flashy means, but still."
"Point taken then." Acrim says. "I'll step up my game next time. I'm guessing we can skip past the basics of stealth and all that?"
"Probably?" Claude shrugs. "I'll admit, my training isn't formal. I figured it out by necessity for the most part."
"It's because you're half human, isn't it?"
How very acute of her. That's not the whole of it, but being half-human is certainly a large factor. "That's part of it."
"Well I won't pry. Tomorrow we'll run down the basics of everything to see what you know." She glances around the room. "You might want to clean up before the room needs to be used."
Claude pauses and stares at the room. "Fuck."
"You didn't think of that, did you?"
"I did." No, he really didn't.
"Well, good luck."
###
Claude can't decide if he finds reading religious texts boring or hilarious. The bias and blatant lies in them are so painfully obvious. Sometimes it's amusing, and sometimes Claude wonders if the people who wrote this just copied a sermon onto paper and added a frame narrative because it's certainly as dull as a sermon.
That said, Claude is learning some interesting tidbits from reading these texts; specifically concerning texts from different time periods. There are a few key bits of the faith that seem to drift over time. One of these important bits of faith is the role of Seiros in the religion. In older texts, Seiros is portrayed as something of a demigod, one of many in fact. The scripture claims she is a nabatean, which is never actually explained beyond nabateans "being the children of the Goddess". Seiros also isn't treated as being too different from the others. A bit more emphasis is put on her deeds, as it is the Church of Seiros after all, but other notable nabateans are almost as focused on as she is. In later editions the only other nabateans that have any sort of relevance in the scriptures are Chichol and Cethleann, with a few minor nods being given to Indech and Macuil. In the older religious texts there are more than just four saints, and while Chichol and Cethleann have always gotten special treatment the others were not as obviously neglected.
Anyhow, Seiros used to be a nabatean. A demigod saint that was focused on by the church, but was not given much extra importance over the others. Over the decades of religious texts, that started to change, and now Seiros is given almost god-like status in the religion, only outclassed by the Goddess herself. Seiros is never called a goddess of course, that would be blasphemy, but religious texts are increasingly filled with Seiros' teachings and anecdotes of things Seiros has done. The other saints are still mentioned, but they seem like afterthoughts, and they're glossed over in a way that makes Claude think the writer found the others boring.
Over time there is also an increased focus on obedience and reverence in the scripts. The old texts talk about being courageous and standing up to adversity but also being critical and observant and how everyone should strive to teach others. The new texts emphasize obedience, especially to the church, and how the church can answer all questions and how the goddess knows all.
Also of note are the writings of the archbishops over time. They are surprisingly few in number. The archbishops are mentioned a decent bit in the personal writings of other prominent religious scholars, but information about the archbishops themselves are usually second-hand.
The archbishops are always female, which is interesting. They all apparently have green hair, and are always young. It's uncanny how similar they all are. Whenever an archbishop dies their second-in-command takes over while a new archbishop is chosen. Chosen by who or what system, no one seems to know. The process takes about a year, and the new archbishop is always someone that nobody but the second-in-command seemed to know beforehand. The archbishops all seem to live unusually long too, about two and a half centuries, with the phenomenon being attributed to a "divine gift" from the goddess and evidence of her power.
Needless to say Claude is suspicious. That sounds like bullshit. It sounds to him like the same person trying to disguise the fact that they live for a stupidly long time.
That also implies that Rhea has actually been around for over a thousand years and that her true name is probably not Rhea.
Of course, there is also the possibility that the archbishops are actually dying every few centuries and they all happen to be close to, if not exactly, identical due to some genetic quirk like the Anna clan. So Claude's theory isn't absolute, he just considers it the most likely considering the information he has to work with.
Actually, a similar trend can be seen for the archbishops' second-in-commands. They always have green hair, are always male, usually even have the same hair style… It's suspicious. Granted, the second-in-commands usually have a once a century cycle of "dying" and a "replacement" being chosen, which is (close enough to) within a human life expectancy, but it's still suspicious.
Claude has had unexpected help in his research in the form of Tomas. Not that it's unexpected for a librarian to help a student, but Tomas was the one who provided him with some of the older texts which he claimed were "in storage" and therefore normally inaccessible to students.
Don't get him wrong, Claude is glad for the help, but it seems weird that Tomas is so eager to help him. The church obviously keeps the old texts off the shelves so people can't see the discrepancies, but Thomas brought them out with no reservations whatsoever.
Weird. Helpful, but definitely weird.
###
Letters from his parents are rare. Getting a letter through Fodlan's Throat is difficult or expensive, usually both, so it's no surprise he neither receives nor sends letters through there very often.
Claude has no idea what the letter could be about… and when he opens it and reads the first line it becomes incredibly obvious.
"Right, I forgot my birthday was on thursday." Claude thinks. "Have I really been at Garreg Mach for that long?"
Actually, he hasn't been paying attention to birthdays at all. He hopes he hasn't missed any important ones. When is Hilda's birthday again? Pegasus moon? That's not for a while, thank the gods.
He doesn't want to think about how difficult it will be to find a gift for Hilda when the time comes. Claude can tell good jewelry from bad jewelry, but it's all so expensive and Claude doesn't have that much money he can pull from, his uncle keeps him on a tight leash in that regard.
Whatever, that won't be a problem for a few months. He'll find a way to get some extra cash before then.
The letter is nothing particularly special. It's from his parents so it's special in that regard, but the contents are exactly what you'd expect of a birthday letter. Sending a parcel through Fodlan's Throat is even more of an issue than a letter, so the only gift his parents managed to send him was a few gold inside the envelope.
He appreciates the thought. The instructions were to "use it on something nice", so Claude supposes he'll use it on new boots. His old ones are getting a bit worn after two years of daily use.
Claude folds the letter after he's done reading it and hides it away in a hidden pocket of his desk. That letter has his real name on it which shows his Almyran heritage, so that's not something he can leave where a potential spy could find it.
He can imagine Hilda rolling her eyes at him and saying "Claude, no spy is going to care about your birthday letter."
Speaking of Hilda… she knows he's from Almyra, so maybe he should consider telling her his name. Then again, his name might give away a bit more information than he's comfortable with. Hilda could find out his position in Almyra from his name, so perhaps he'll hold back on that.
"She's going to be so mad when I tell her I've been using a fake name." Claude thinks absently. "That's going to be a fun conversation."
And by fun he means terrible, but that's aside from the point. It's also months if not years away from happening, so he doesn't have to worry about it now.
###
Marianne stares at the door. Is she actually doing this? This feels like a terrible idea. She should just back out and find someone else.
"Except he's expecting me." Marianne reminds herself. She can't back out now, no matter how much she may want to.
Well, she can, but it would be rude.
That said, the idea that Ignatz is actually going to remember this is somewhat horrifying to her. Not only does Ignatz know what she is, he's actually going to remember the feeding process. You know, the process in which she pins him to his bed, drugs him with charm magic, and spends an hour forcefully kissing him to suck out energy?
Marianne is embarrassed even thinking about the process. It's beyond her how Ignatz can accept such a horrible thing being done to him. The act is likely sacrilege of the body too. There's no way the Goddess would accept such actions.
Not that Marianne has ever found any passages in any texts that are explicitly against feeding (at least of the voluntary kind), but Marianne assumes it would be frowned upon. Succubi are feared because the very act of feeding is horrible, regardless of context.
Or, at least, that's what Marianne assumes. Any time she hears succubi mentioned it is always in the context of them being incredibly dangerous. There is never any consideration given to the circumstances the succubus might be experiencing, just the results of their actions. There is no hope for a being with such foul abilities.
Still, she needs to feed. If force of will could abate her hunger, she'd like to think it would have happened a long time ago.
It is with great reluctance that she knocks on Ignatz's door. Ignatz opens it almost instantly, and Marianne feels bad that he might have been waiting for her while she was just standing outside indecisively.
"Marianne!" Ignatz says breathlessly. Realizing he might sound a bit too excited, he tries to school his expression. "Uh, come in."
The girl nods silently and follows him inside. His room is the same as it usually is when she gets to see it. His paintings are almost all covered up to hide them, which is a shame because Marianne likes his paintings. His landscapes wonderfully adapt the view in front of him while his portraits are quite accurate (with a bit of flattering embellishment).
Maybe she could ask to see them? That would be selfish though. She's already feeding on him. She has no right to ask for anything else, much less something as petty as seeing his paintings.
"S-So, uh, how does this work?" Ignatz asks. He's standing in the middle of his room with his hands clasped tightly in front of him. His nervousness is palpable, and when he meets her eyes he quickly looks away. "What do I have to do?"
"You don't have to do anything." Marianne murmurs. She steps towards him and he straightens in surprise and anticipation. She places her hands on his shoulders and he visibly trembles, and Marianne cringes. Even with her necklace still on, she's terrifying to him. That thought weighs heavily in her mind. "You don't have to do this you know… I can find someone else, or wipe-"
"No!" Ignatz says forcefully. He cringes a moment later. "I mean… I'm fine with it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, you don't have to feed on anyone else." Ignatz nods. "It's fine."
Marianne is confused by how insistent he is about this, but then a thought crosses her mind and she understands. "If he does this, no one else has to suffer. He's being altruistic."
"Alright, turn around for a moment please." Marianne requests.
"Wh-Why? I thought you said this was just…" He taps his mouth.
"It is." Marianne flushes. "I don't like taking my necklace off in front of others."
"Ah." He says. His clasped hands turn white-knuckled. "Wh-What is it like to be charmed…?"
"I don't know." Marianne says honestly. "I'm immune to charm effects myself."
"Right, stupid question." He laughs shakily. "Sorry, I'm just nervous. This is a new experience for me you know?"
Marianne feels horrible all over again. He's nervous because of her. "It will be fine. From what I'm aware, charm is pleasant. Feeding is pleasant, unless I attempt to make it not so." She squeezes his shoulder. "I promise you'll be fine."
He takes a deep breath. "Right, okay, let's do this." The boy turns around, giving her a moment. Marianne takes a deep breath and removes her necklace like she's done so many times before. She isn't sure if it's better or worse that she's going to be feeding on a friend this time. Is it better or worse that he'll remember?
The necklace comes off. It feels like removing a corset. All her magic is suddenly unconstrained, it can breath. It might feel liberating and relieving if it didn't always signify she was going to feed.
"Okay." Marianne says quietly. She doesn't think she'll ever get used to the way her voice changes with her necklace off. It's too soft, too inviting, too sultry for someone like her. "You can turn around."
Ignatz does so with great hesitance. Like usual Marianne feels that painful constriction in her chest when his eyes go wide upon seeing her and he takes a deep, surprised breath. "I… uh…"
"These should come off." She murmurs, and plucks his glasses off his face. She sets them aside as she usually does on his side table. "Are you ready?"
"You- uh-" Ignatz stammers. "Wow…"
That gets a furious blush out of Marianne. She quickly reminds herself it's just the charm magic at work. "Lie down." She instructs, and gently pushes him onto the bed. "Okay, again, are you ready?"
"What happens after?" Ignatz asks suddenly. "When you're done with me?"
Marianne doesn't like the way that's worded. When she's "done with him"? That makes it sound like she throws him away. She understands the question though. "I usually put you to sleep and erase your memory, though I won't erase it this time."
"Can you not put me to sleep either? There's something I want to do." He says this meekly, and when she stares at him in surprise he shrinks into himself a bit like he's embarrassed.
"You do know you'll be not quite in your right mind…?"
"I know, I'm not going to go anywhere." He promises.
"Do you need me to watch you after?" She asks in concern. What exactly is he going to do?
"No no!" He protests. "I-I was just going to… paint."
"Paint?"
Ignatz nods timidly. "This is a unique experience, so, uh, I figured it could be inspiring."
Inspired? By someone preying on him? Artists are weird. "If you wish." She makes a point to push him onto the bed and sit in his lap, ignoring his sharp intake of breath. She's put this off long enough. "Now, again, are you ready?" After a moment she adds. "This is your last chance to back out. Once I start you won't be able to tell me to stop." You know, because he won't be able to speak.
"I… I'm ready." He squeaks.
Marianne doesn't waste a moment longer. She firmly wraps her arms around his smaller body, with one hand going to the back of his head, and then presses her mouth against his. She tries not to be too forceful, but she's worried her hunger is showing. As always the first taste sends a jolt of excitement through her body that she brutally suppresses.
Feeding for Marianne is always an act of self-control. Her instincts demand that she feed longer, that she be more forceful, that she run her hands down his back and push him down onto the bed and-
"Stop." Marianne squeezes her eyes shut. "Don't think about it."
It could be nice for him too. The part of her that pretends to be benevolent but is actually horribly selfish, her inner Sylvain, murmurs conspiratorially. A little more enthusiasm won't hurt him. You're already kissing him quite passionately. Did you even notice?
Marianne hadn't noticed. She softens the force she didn't realize she was applying. Her hunger really is getting the best of her.
You need to feed more often. You know the long way is supposed to be done biweekly, not once a week. You're starving yourself on a regular basis.
"I'm fine, it's worked so far."
And you've never been closer to losing control then now. Poor girl, so desperate for affection that even Ignatz's casual acceptance makes you this excited.
The implication makes her seem pathetic. Doubly so because it's painfully true. For the rest of her feeding Marianne ignores the whispering in the back of her head.
###
"There you are, I knew I felt some charm from around here."
Marianne jumps in surprise and fumbles to bring up a nosferatu spell. When she whips around with the spell on her fingers, she's surprised to find the person hasn't pulled a weapon on her and simply holds up their hands.
"Sorry. Everyone in the company is used to me doing that. Forgot that you wouldn't be." The woman chuckles. Marianne has never seen her before. She looks…
"Are you a ninja?" Marianne asks dumbly.
"Kunoichi if we're being technical. Assassin if we're talking about my usual job." The woman offers. "And you're a succubus, aren't you?"
Marianne freezes up. How does she know that? She made sure to put her necklace back on. Is it just because she's out so late?
"Ah, so that's the case." The woman muses. "You don't like other people knowing, do you?"
"I-I-"
"Hey, no worries." She reaches down the neck of her outfit and pulls out a small necklace. "I'm the same as you."
Marianne isn't sure if that's reassuring or worrying.
"Name's Acrim by the way. I'm part of Jeralt's group. We're helping your class for the rest of the month, as well as the mission."
"Right." Marianne squeaks. What does Acrim want with her though? Also… "You have a necklace too?"
"Of course I do. Pretty standard for our kind." Acrim nods. "You didn't know?"
"No."
"Huh." Acrim blinks. "If you don't mind me asking… did your mother never tell you?"
"I have not seen my mother in a very long time." Marianne murmurs. She's likely dead, but Marianne doesn't want to say that. The pain is too acute. "A relative raised me."
"Were they a succubus?"
"No."
"Right." The woman's mouth settles into a thin line. "Right. That might be a problem."
That feels vaguely like a threat to Marianne, and it must show in her body language because Acrim quickly reassures her.
"I'm just worried." Acrim explains. "Worried that your mother didn't get to explain everything to you about being one of us."
"I know about feeding, I know about our powers." Marianne says. "What more is there to know?"
"Do you know about first time loss of control?" Acrim asks. "Or marking?"
"Umm…" She's never heard of either of those things. "No."
"How about our life expectancy? Did you know we can all mind control people? That we can quite literally destroy someone's mind by using too much charm magic?"
"I know we live for a bit longer than humans." Marianne murmurs. About one-hundred and fifty years on average to be precise. She was vaguely aware that some succbi could mind control, but not every one of them. And destroying someone's mind? That's… terrifying. Why do they even have the ability to do that!?
"Right…" Acrim takes a deep breath. "Then there's a few things I think I should explain."
A prickle of electricity runs down Marianne's spine. This whole situation makes her uncomfortable; not because Acrim feels threatening, but because Marianne worries about what she could learn. She doesn't want more misery added onto her situation, to learn some horrible truth that makes being a succubus even worse, but is it not better she knows so she does not inflict some unexpected horror on an innocent other?
Marianne swallows and asks hoarsely. "Please, tell me."
"You sound so worried." Acrim blinks. "What's wrong?"
"I'm worried it will be worse."
"Worse than what?"
"Worse than I am already."
The woman tilts her head. Her mouth is covered, but Marianne expects she's frowning. "What is wrong with what you are? Have you done something wrong?"
"I have fed on people who are unwilling." Marianne mutters miserably. "Is that not what a monster does?"
"Well…" Acrim purses her lips. "If that's all it takes to be a monster than any succubus, or any member of a feeding species at all, is probably a monster. A lot of us don't have the liberty of having a dedicated feeding partner as soon as it becomes necessary that we feed. Are you saying all of us are horrible people?"
"No!" Marianne protests. "Just me."
"A why's that? Did you traumatize someone?"
"Every week." Marianne nods.
"Do you not memory wipe them?"
"I do, but-"
"Well that's pretty standard then."
"But it's horrible!"
"Do you use the long way or the short way?"
"The long way, but-"
"Well then you're probably better than most."
"But-"
"Why are you so insistent that you're some terrible person kid?"
"I am!"
"Have you killed someone who didn't deserve it?"
"Well no-"
"Traumatized someone who you didn't mind-wipe?"
"No but-"
Acrim crosses her arms. "So what's so bad about you in particular then? It sounds to me like you want to hate yourself, that for some reason you expect yourself to live up to standards that no one else has to."
"But I am worse!"
"Oh really? Do tell. Name one thing you've done that's worse than everything we've gone through already."
"I've… I've…" Marianne is sure there's something. There's always something. How can she not think of something else? There has to be something else. "I've put people to sleep and wiped their memory just for figuring out I'm a succubus!"
"That's pretty normal too."
"I… I…"
"Look." Acrim sighs. "I know being one of us kinda sucks sometimes, but that doesn't mean everything you do is necessarily your fault. You've been dealt a crappy hand, and you really can't be blamed for wanting to live. As long as you make an effort to make it as painless for others as possible, there's no reason for you to think of yourself so poorly."
"But it feels so horrible…" Marianne whispers. "It feels so good, and that's why it feels so horrible."
"I get it." Acrim says tiredly. Her shoulders sag a bit and her eyes look away for a moment. Marianne can't help but feel like the woman isn't lying. "It's hard to forgive yourself for enjoying the act of preying on others, isn't it?"
Marianne nods solemnly. That sounds right. "I know I should hate it, but all I can think about in the moment is how tasty he is, or how liberating it feels to take my necklace off, or how nice it is to hold someone… even if they're as limp as a doll."
"Especially if they're as limp as a doll." Acrim says with obvious familiarity to the feeling. "Right?"
Marianne nods uncomfortably.
"Do you know why?"
She shakes her head.
"Evolution." Acrim says. "Think about it. Succubi didn't get all these powers and feeding habits randomly. Just like most creatures we evolved them over time. Humans are easy prey if you have the right tools or skills, so we evolved to a hyper-specific niche. Charm magic, faster than usual physical development, and our immaculate and extremely shapely appearances, all of those are tools to help us prey on people. Men in particular, I might add. That's why succubi are reproductive parasites. A one-gendered species. Why have male succubi when you can just charm a human?"
Marianne shudders and Acrim nods.
"Nasty way to think, I know, but evolution is like that. Point is, we've evolved a certain way. Even our subconscious is affected by this. It's the reason why preying on someone is so enjoyable. That's because, evolutionarily, it was useful to be eager to feed." Acrim pauses, collecting her thoughts. She didn't intend this to turn into a lesson about evolution. "Anyhow, the point is, evolution is a bitch and you can't shake a lot of it, but knowing the reasons behind it can make it more bearable."
Marianne nods silently.
"Right, what else did I mention but not explain?" Acrim mutters.
"Something about loss of control? And… marking?" Marianne provides hesitantly.
"Right, uh… I had the first one explained to me when I got 'the talk'." Acrim coughs. "Never thought I'd be explaining this. So, you know the short way?"
"Y-Yes? I've never done it."
"Good."
"Good?"
"If you did, the first time anyways, there's about a seventy-five percent chance you'd accidentally kill your partner."
There's a long pause as Marianne processes that information. "Wh- What!?" She yelps. "It kills them?!"
"Well you can always choose to kill them." Acrim mutters. "But yeah, uh, we have this weird quirk where our powers tend to go out of control when we have our… first time. Unless you have someone else present to keep your powers under control, you can probably say goodbye to the poor guy you brought to bed. Every other time after that is totally under your control, but the first time can be a nasty surprise if you don't know about it."
Marianne always knew her species was bad, but that is just awful. What sort of sadistic branch of evolution led to her species having a quirk that surprise kills the first person you try to be intimate with? "That's horrible!"
"I know." The older woman nods grimly. "Even worse, I've met some of our kind that treat it like a rite of passage. To be a 'proper' succubus you have lure whatever human you've become closest with home, usually a childhood friend, and kill them during your first time. Apparently it's to 'prove your skills as a predator', with no regard for the cost of life involved of course."
Marianne shudders again, more violently. She feels physically sick after hearing that. A rite of passage that usually kills close friends, and it's treated like a good thing? That's… that's… what sort of despicable people…? "I-I know you're supposed to respect other people's cultures, but…"
"Yeah, they can rot in hell." Acrim says firmly.
"You said it only kills if you don't have help? So this can be bypassed?" Marianne asks, desperate to change the subject, if only a bit.
"Yeah, it's not hard. So long as you have another succubus there, you'll be fine. It's a bit embarrassing to have someone else around, but better than accidentally killing a friend. That sort of thing tends to put a dampener on an otherwise fun evening." Acrim jokes, also trying to lighten the mood. "Not a big deal aside from that."
"And marking? Is that some biting thing?"
Acrim raises an eyebrow. "I think I understand your taste in novels."
Marianne blushes a brilliant red and hides her face in her hands. The older woman laughs and pats her on the shoulder.
"Anyhow, no, marking does not involve biting, or anything of the sort. Just a little bit of skin contact is fine. Shake their hand or something if you want. It's just a little magic signature to tell others that the marked person is yours."
"M-Mine?" Marianne's blush doesn't go away.
"It's nothing dirty." Acrim laughs. "It's a way of telling others that a person is already being fed on. You wouldn't want someone to accidentally be the regular feeding partner of multiple succubi, that could take a lot out of them. Succubi usually mark their significant others and close friends. Don't mark too many people or others will disregard your marks as you being greedy if they find out."
"Right."
"If that little glasses boy is your feeding partner, you should consider marking him. After all, there is a vampire here. They mark too. Any feeding species tends to mark."
"Is it instinctive? I've never felt the urge…"
"Nah, it's a modern thing. My mom taught me how to do it when I started hunting around." Acrim steps forward, removes a glove and her necklace, and extends a hand. "You just do this."
Acrim pokes Marianne in the forehead. She can feel a brief tingle of magic, and then nothing. "That's it?"
"Yep. Can you feel it? You might need to take off your necklace."
Marianne is obviously nervous about doing so, but she does. Taking off her necklace also lets her feel the charm magic rolling off Acrim. It's much less than her own power, but she isn't sure if that's because Acrim is more restrained or if her natural power is just that strong.
Judging by how Acrim raises her eyebrows in surprise, Marianne suspects her own power is just very strong. She can also feel the mark. It really is a minor thing. It doesn't particularly stand out, and she could ignore it easily if she wanted, but she can see the use in it. It's like posting a note, except instead of on a board it's on a person and the note has no contents. Marianne can feel the same magical signature on Acrim's mark as from the woman herself.
"There's a few more minor things I could go through, but it's getting late and I think I've mentioned the most important parts." Acrim says. She taps Marianne again, removing the mark, and puts her necklace back on (Marianne does the same). "If you want to talk again I'd be happy to. I'm sure there's something I've forgotten, and I imagine you'll think of a question or two over a few days."
Marianne nods silently. She frankly feels a bit overwhelmed at the moment from such an overload of information. She learned more about how her own species works in thirty minutes than she has in nearly a decade prior.
She wouldn't say she feels good about herself now, but… maybe her situation isn't quite as terrible as she assumed.
Self-indulgent detailing of how succubi work. Had these ideas in mind forever, and even if it's an info dump I'm glad to get it out there. Now that I have that out of my system, I can move on to other characters. Not that Marianne won't still show up, but her main arc is effectively over.
I could ramble forever about Marianne in this story, but I won't. Succubi are so much fun though. No wonder I use them so often. They're a perfect mix of drama, comedy, sexual humor, and genuinely interesting traits (if you put in some effort to make them interesting). At least, that's my opinion.
