You awaken, unusually not to the sensation of your mother and little sister pressing up against you but a completely different feeling entirely. It's truly fascinating how different human bodies truly are. You slept with Aria's human form the other day and that was an interesting experience. But this time it's Cassie, someone who is close to becoming one of your creatures. Someone you snatched out of another's greedy clutches only the night before.
Your first instinct is to spend the rest of the day grinding away at her. But that would be a waste. You already have the Reality Notebook working on her. She doesn't require your direct input. And with the immediate issue finished there's no rush. You can afford to take your time leaving the notebook to work her over while you move on to more pressing matters. For now you can admire her sleeping form before you prod her gently awake and instruct her to drive you home.
In the car you ponder your new Soul Contract. Your Mistress said you could keep the next soul you nab, at the likely cost of a higher future quota.
Of course, you could potentially make a contract and then not report it. She already believes you to be incompetant, she wouldn't be surprised if you came back next week without another signed agreement. Though if she discovers you've been holding back on her you'll be in real trouble. Of course, you could just grab another sucker and hand it over for brownie points and that nice little malice boost. Not that you are convinced those brownie points are going to help you. Still, you can always hope, right?
You decide you'll postpone making a decision about the contract right now. You'll just have to endure your Mistress' scorn next week when she discovers you haven't done anything with it. For now you want to focus on getting everything done in preparation for your next body. Though you do recall also inviting Sherry round today. So maybe you will be spending some time not being productive. Perhaps a day off wouldn't be too awful…
You fight down a sigh. Maybe not, you can relax some other time. That still leaves the problem of Sherry coming round. Maybe you can still make use of her somehow? And of course Cassie is here too. You may as well introduce her to your other minion and minion to be. This just leaves the question of what to do during the afternoon.
You decide to bring Lucy and Sherry with you to Roger's. Maybe Usa will train Sherry as well, though you may have been lucky with Lucy. In the meanwhile Cassie can start getting ready for her main responsibility. She may not be entirely ready for it, but having her begin to contemplate her role as your seductive cockteasing temptress will be a good start. Though she'll need to be adequately armed for when her tormenting inevitably causes someone to get angry. Maybe you should have her target married men, that's likely to cause the most trouble. Though more trouble isn't always good as it might bring with it the wrong type of attention.
You return home with Cassie in tow and immediately your little sister crashes into you, burying her head in your chest. She was probably worried, you'll have to remember to at least keep her informed when you stay out or she might assume the worst and start following your instructions to go looking for you. Your mother is also not looking happy with you. Fortunately, your grip on her mind allows you to wave away the usual scolding. Instead you introduce Elisa to Cassie. Neither seems to really understand why this is happening and you aren't sure you can be bothered to come up with a convincing excuse.
So you simply explain to your mother that Cassie is the friend of an older sibling of one of your school friends who offered to drive you back home. It's a ridiculous story but Elisa accepts it. She probably can't say no to you at this point. After all she's already accepted in her head that she'll be looking after your sexual needs when you grow up, there isn't much further you could push her. Your mother prepares a breakfast for the two of you while Lucy attaches herself to you like a little limpet and refuses to let go.
Once breakfast is over you begin to instruct Cassie on what you want her to do moving forwards. She doesn't seem all that happy about it. After all, she's only at the 'flirt' stage of her development and will need another push. But it's something she can start thinking about at least. For now you have her start thinking about ways to use her streaming service back home to discreetly contact certain men that look like good potential targets. Ideally they should live a fair distance away so they can't just show up at her place and aren't so eager that they'll end up reacting severely to her stringing them along.
In the end you make little progress with this for now, but the seeds have been planted. Once she's ready she'll know what to do. For now she'll need to buy herself some protection and start making discreet inquiries.
A bit later Sherry arrives. You really would love to simply trigger her and install her as a decoration in your room for when you come back but you don't really have the means to pull something like that off yet. So you'll take her along with you and Lucy when you visit Roger. Waving goodbye to Cassie and Elisa the three of you make your way outside. You cannot help but get an unpleasant feeling as you cross the threshold. A feeling you remember all too well. You quickly pop a suppressant in your mouth, giving one to Lucy as well to take, just in case.
Continuing onto the street you observe the distinct form of Sister Cassandra making her way towards you. The fuck is she doing here? Did she come to visit again? Most likely, she's still concerned that Aria is up to no good here, after all. That cross she brought round last time is in Elisa's room now, much to Aria's consternation. Clearly Sister Cassandra isn't satisfied with that. But does that involve you? Should you be here when she arrives or not? If you've taken the supressants in time she hopefully hasn't noticed you yet. You could continue to Roger's with her being none the wiser. But would you rather be here and see what she wants?
You'd love to know exactly what the Sister is thinking right now, but you also don't want to suffer through a full afternoon of her insufferably pure aura. Your newest ability should help to cushion the blow a bit, but you'd rather not take the risk. And of course you remember the suppressants have a time limit to them. If she stays for too long they will wear off and she'll notice. And the moment she realises you've been hiding your corruption she'll know you aren't just a simple victim.
So you decide to meet her at the door, grab a bit of info, then quickly bail before she can notice anything. It might also be important to let her get a look at Lucy, as she was at school the last time Cassandra came to visit. This might even be a reason why she's visiting on a weekend. So you'll tough it out. You watch her pick her way across the road and marvel at her ability to walk around so easily without the use of her eyes. She must have been given some pretty nifty powers in exchange.
Inside you Greed pipes up after being silent for so long, painting a picture inside your head of the blind priestess worshipping you instead of her own God. Tempting, very tempting, but it would be a monumental effort to corrupt someone this sickeningly pure, especially when you can barely stand to be near her. There must be a way the other demons have fought against the Church all these years. Perhaps you should consult with Aria again before any major conflicts begin.
You step out to greet Sister Cassandra as she approaches.
'Er, hello, Miss,' you make yourself sound nervous, as though you are still wary of her. Sherry and Lucy hang back behind you, one curious, the other indifferent, with eyes only for you.
'Greetings child, 'Cassandra replies, 'it is lovely to meet you again, I am terribly sorry once more about scaring you. It was done with the best of intentions, I assure you.' You nod.
'Yeah,' you say, 'mum told me about it after you came round last time. Did you want to see her again? We were going to my friend's house but mum is still home!' Her sightless gaze moves between the three of you. She doesn't seem to sense anything wrong with you or Lucy, but her gaze hesitates when it reaches Sherry. Likely she's struggling to interpret what she can see there.
'You have an uncommonly pure aura, young lady,' she addresses Sherry, eventually, 'I believe you could do a great amount of good in the world if your talents are polished. If you ever feel like spreading joy and harmony across the world please come to see us. We would welcome you with open arms!' She proceeds to provide you with the location of the church where she is based and extends an invitation for you to visit if you wish. After exchanging a few more pleasantries you leave for Roger's house, allowing Sister Cassandra to continue into yours.
You lose 10 malice from the Sister's disgustingly pure and innocent aura!
You hope that you can convince Usa to allow Sherry to train with the two of you, but Usa mutters some long winded nonsense about not being able to efficiently manage more than two people at a time. You are fairly certain the lazy creature could help all of you at once, but doesn't want to for whatever reason. A pity Sherry isn't wearing her bunny panties today, maybe that would have helped. Then again, Aria has those, so she'd need to have a second pair. Never mind. You'll make sure she wears some for next time. It just shows that the rabbit isn't as much of a pushover as you've been assuming up until this point.
Still Sherry is still allowed to watch and help out, meaning her visit isn't entirely wasted. And if Usa can get used to her it should be easier to convince it to let her join in next time. For now you focus on your own training and manage to get the hang of your exercises. You didn't really understand how they were supposed to help before but you can feel yourself getting a little bit luckier. You might be able to avoid accidentally killing yourself now!
Reasonably satisfied with your afternoon's training session the three of you head back home. Sherry, seemingly trying to compete with Lucy is now clinging onto your left side, to match your little sister on the right. It's actually quite difficult to walk with them hanging on you like this but you'd feel bad about telling them to let go of you. You have discovered, for good or for ill, that you have something of a soft spot for what you consider to be your property. As far you are concerned, both Lucy and Sherry belong to you. Lucy in both mind and soul, while Sherry in mind only, for now. And you look after your belongings, all to get the best use out of them as you can.
Lucy has proven herself to be quite the little troublemaker and malice factory for you. As for Sherry, you are still uncertain. You didn't acquire her under any assumption she would be useful to you, but this discovery that her inability to feel negative emotions might lead her towards being able to infiltrate the Church for you is an interesting one. Is it possible that she could remain loyal to you while slipping in amidst the sisters?
From what you understood before Sister Cassandra was one of their most perceptive operatives. If Sherry can fool her then would any of the others realise what was wrong? Possibly with more prolonged exposure they might realise the issue with Sherry's emotions. Though you could possibly work on Sherry's outside personality to fix that. It is certainly an interesting opportunity and one worth exploring, especially considering Sherry serves no other purpose currently, other than being a pretty decoration for you when you are bored.
You are able to sense that Sister Cassandra is long gone by the time you get back home. Your mother greets you and lets you know that your 'older sister' is here to visit. Cassie left just after the sister arrived, apparently. So many visitors today, you sure are popular! Though you doubt Aria is going to be in a good mood. She wasn't best pleased the last time Sister Cassandra came to visit. That doesn't seem to show on her face though as she greets you. You allow her to embrace you and Lucy, noticing once again how much more eager she is to get her hands on your sister. Then she turns towards Sherry, noticing the blonde girl for the first time.
'Oh and look at this!' she exclaims, 'is this another one of your little projects?' You nod.
'This is one of my friends from school,' you explain. Sherry has by this point started to cower behind you. You forget that she's actually very shy and timid with people who aren't you and Lucy. Aria's eyes have already become positively predatory. You don't mind letting her 'borrow' Sherry for the evening, hell you'll let her play around with her if she pays up. But before that, Sherry also has a nice little trick that Aria might appreciate…
'Now Sherry,' you admonish her, 'you don't need to be shy. This is a friend of mine, why don't you spend the evening playing with her, ok?' She looks up at you with wide blue eyes, then her face flushes and she smiles, moving past you. Aria's eyes gleam.
'She's awfully well trained,' she comments, 'though you wouldn't need to train her at all if you just wiped her clean.' You shrug.
'I did install that feature into her,' you comment, leaning in close to Sherry and whispering her trigger into her ear. She immediately goes rigid, her face draining of all expression, her eyes becoming vacant and empty. You spend a moment toying with puppet Sherry to prove your point before returning her to normal.
'So if you can do that,' Aria protests, predictably, 'then why not just leave her like that?' You grin at her.
'Wouldn't you like to try playing with a doll that plays back?' Aria frowns.
'No, I'm pretty sure I know what I like, thank you!' she protests. But you are fairly sure she's lying to herself. She likely doesn't even realise she's doing it. You give Sherry an order and the young girl eagerly moves to obey you, moving behind Aria and beginning to rub her shoulders for her. At the same time you call your mother over and ask her to speak to Sherry's parents for you. Sherry will be staying over for the night. Aria still doesn't seem convinced by the idea, but she's at least prepared to try Sherry out as she is, rather than simply demanding you switch her back to her puppet form.
Lucy sits on your lap as usual. She watched you trigger Sherry without the slightest surprise or concern. She really has become an adorable little imp for you.
'And how far will you let me go with this one?' Aria asks you, already stripping off her shirt to allow Sherry access to her bare skin.
'I'd say touch as much as you want,' you inform her, 'if you want to go further than that well…' you allow your words to drift off. Aria grins.
'You are getting the hang of this,' she tells you. 'Fair enough, considering you've clearly finished working on your darling little sis over there, how about I give you another Soul Brand? You managed to get good use of the first one, right?' You are sorely tempted by this offer. Unlike a Soul Contract, the Brand allows you to skip all the fluff and begin to directly work on a person's soul. It's useful for a variety of reasons. With it you could obtain another permanent minion, though again you'll need to hide the speed of the corruption from the demons.
The only question would be who Aria will allow you to use it on. The obvious choice is Sherry herself. But if you accepted a Brand onto Sherry your newly developing plan to have her investigate the church for you would go up in smoke. They'd surely notice you tampering with her soul. So then, is there anyone else you'd want a Brand on?
'Sounds reasonable,' you say, 'but try not to break Sherry, I have plans for her and I'd rather not have to ask Soprano to provide me with a copy of her.' Aria giggles.
'I have no idea what you could mean,' she taunts you, 'I'm not a child! I don't break my toys!' You fix her with a glare. It shouldn't really be intimidating coming from your baby face. But she gets the message regardless.
'Relax,' she assures you, 'I'll be good. I won't play rough with such a delicate looking toy anyway! Now you just need to decide who you want me to Brand? I could just Brand this one, nice and easy!' You shake your head. Branding Sherry would be counter intuitive. For starters she's already loyal to her, so adding the Brand to her wouldn't make much difference until you can work out the various uses for willing souls. In addition, you already ruled Sherry out for the Church reason so not her.
You could Brand your mother or Ami. Again, they are both well on the way to becoming yours anyway. Ideally it could be best to Brand your next target, that way you could swap out their soul for yours at the same time. No need to worry about what to do about Zach. But Aria isn't going to follow you around all day waiting for you to make a decision. She also isn't likely to want to go with you to where ever you'd need to go to meet your target. She'll probably insist it be someone you bring here. So that likely rules out your teacher. You aren't sure you'd want to use it on her anyway.
Who do you know that you could invite over but don't have any influence over already? That would likely be the best use of the Brand. The answer to that is fairly obvious. Maria. You decided to move past her because of how stubbornly she'd been resisting you. But with the Soul Brand you wouldn't need to worry about that. Like Cassie and the Notebook, you'd just need to wait. And it would allow you to complete the set like you've always wanted. Greed nudges you eagerly. Yes, he wants a full set as well. And it should be easy enough to bring Maria here, if she believes Ami and Sherry will be here as well.
'I'll try to bring her here tomorrow,' you inform Aria, 'we are meeting up again tomorrow, right? You could do it then?' Aria nods. She's pulled Sherry into her lap and is running her hands all over her body. Sherry seems to be enjoying the attention.
'Yes, I actually came to visit this evening to let you know what is going to happen tomorrow,' she informs you, 'as payment for helping you with that little scuffle the other day I'll need you to act as my proxy during the upcoming monthly Orchestral Concert.' You cock your head in her direction.
'Orchestral Concert?' you reply, 'some sort of demon meeting?'
'A very specific demon meeting,' Aria explains, 'it's only for demons serving directly under The Conductor who also are currently working on the mortal plane. There will be four of us in attendence. Well, three, as I doubt Baritone will be attending in person. He always sends a representative to speak for him. Soprano will of course be there as well. We get together, share information, catch up on current events. It's really quite tedious and annoying. So we liven it up a bit by playing a game of Devil's Poker. As my proxy you'll be participating as well so look forward to it!'
She giggles in an ominous way. You aren't sure if you enjoy the sound of being thrown into a room amongst a bunch of dangerous demons, half of which you'll only be meeting for the first time. But you don't really have much choice, you'll just have to make do.
'I'll come to pick you up in the evening,' Aria confirms, 'make sure your target is present as well and I'll use the Brand while I'm here. Nice and convenient, right?' You nod.
'While we are talking about convenient,' you suggest, 'how about removing that thing from my mother's arm now? I think it's served it's purpose.' Aria glances over at your mother, who hasn't been wearing a stitch of clothing likely since Sister Cassandra left. Possibly she was actually naked while the Sister was here, considering Cassandra wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. Aria relents surprisingly easily. Perhaps she has given up on trying to torment you in that way? Maybe she's even starting to see you as something close to a friend or a companion. These aren't words that demons tend to use, but it would be nice. Regardles, Aria removes the bracelet and recalls the fragment of her soul inside it. Now to see if she notices.
For a terrible, heart wrenching moment you feel as though Aria will spot the modifications you made to her soul fragment as it rejoins her. However, you feel your fate change. Serendipitously you obtained that ability only this afternoon and it's already paid off in spades. If Aria had noticed your meddling you have no idea how she would react. It likely wouldn't have been good for your newly budding working relationship at any rate. Now the fragment should be able to subtly work away at her, causing her to perceive you as even less of a threat than she does currently. That should pave the way for more ambitious manipulations later.
The evening isn't over yet and you could ask Aria a few questions before you wrap up. Or you could allow her more time to enjoy Sherry and spend the last part of the evening with your mother instead.
'So what in the Nine Hells is Demon Poker?' you ask Aria. She grins at you.
'You'll find out tomorrow,' she replies, 'don't worry too much, we'll explain what your role will be at the time. Though, seeing as you are bringing it up, there's actually something else I'll be asking for you to do for me while we are at the venue. A big time television presenter is due to be attending at the same time for a certain event. Rumours are his young daughter will be there as well! I'd like you to sneak out of the Concert at some point and do what you do best! Grab me some panties!' You frown at her.
'If this guy is supposed to be some big shot,' you counter, 'he'll probably have his own security, won't he? How do you expect me to sneak up on his daughter and get close enough to swipe her underwear without anyone noticing? And why do you even want it in the first place?' Aria wiggles a finger at you.
'That doesn't matter to you. If you want to pay me back for the favour I did for you then you'll do this.'
'Oh no you don't,' you protest, 'you did one favour for me. You want me to attend this Concert for you as your proxy. And you want me to go panty stealing. That's two favours!' Aria giggles
'Alright, you got me,' she concedes, 'fine, I'll hand over six grade 1 souls for the prize, okay?' You consider her offer. It actually shouldn't be that difficult to pull this off, assuming you are only dealing with regular grunts. With Null Presence, Suggestion and Sleep it should be easy enough to get close to the girl and remove her undies. But Aria doesn't know about that. Maybe you could try for more?
You give it your best go, but Aria is very much unflappable. In the end she throws in fifty malice into the deal and that you suspect only out of a sense of concern for how terrible your haggling skills are. Perhaps it's something you'll need to work on in the future. When you aren't doing a dozen other things…
'Going back to the Church thing for a second,' you bring up, 'I know you want to fight them but I'm not seeing how it's even possible right now. As it stands I can't even get close to Sister Cassandra without needing to suppress my soul. I don't know how I can fight them! If I'm like this then the stronger demons must have even more problems, right?' Aria laughs.
'You may be right,' she replies, 'at least you would be if all of them were like Sister Cassandra. Or indeed if they were all like the Sisters of Salvation. Fortunately, the Sisters are a minor branch, a fringe of the wider movement. The Apostles of the Covenant are the main enemy in the city and they are much easier to deal with. You met their High Priestess didn't you?' You consider this. You did indeed have a run in with High Priestess Viala. At the time she only noticed you because of the jewel Aria gave you. And the amount of damage you sustained from being in her presence was minimal. And that was one of their topmost people.
'The Apostles believe in fighing fire with fire,' Aria answers, 'which means they are full of anger, hatred, rage and other negative emotions. They aren't nearly as pure as the Sisters, meaning their auras are far less toxic to us. It also makes them much easier to corrupt and twist to our desires. It's the typical offense versus defence approach. The Sisters are all in on defence, the Apostles all in on offence. The Traditionalists are something of a balance between the two.
'Each group approaches confrontation with us in different ways and so we respond to that in kind. Against the Sisters physical or esoteric abilities usually works best. Against the Apostles, mental attacks and illusions tend to be most effective. Against the Traditionalists, more subtle, soul based attacks are typically used, though these are arguably effective against the Apostles as well, albeit not as much. As for more specific details, well that would involve cluing me in on your abilities, and I have a sneaky suspicion you aren't going to be wanting to do that, right?'
You meet her gaze levelly. She would be correct, you don't really want to show her your hand. Not until you are sure she can be fully trusted. And even then you likely won't be comfortable until you have insurance. Possibly in the form of influence.
'In that case,' you gesture towards Sherry, trying to ignore her now lack of any clothing and the noises, 'I was thinking about arranging for Sherry to investigate the Church for me. Sister Cassandra was here earlier and she recommended her, praising her aura for being so pure. I believe this is because I sealed away her ability to feel negative emotions.' Aria seems impressed.
'You know, that might actually work,' she ventured, 'it isn't something I've explored before because of the impact my work has on my victims and playthings. But if she was able to fool the Sister,' Aria presses her ear to Sherry's chest as though listening for her heartbeat.
'Not a trace of corruption,' she reports, 'her alterations are entirely mental in nature.' You cannot help but be confused by that. You did use Aura on Sherry a number of times. Aura is a Soul ability, does it not have a lingering affect on the souls of your targets? Evidently not as neither Cassandra nor Aria could spot it. What does that mean then? Perhaps that is a question for The Diary.
'The biggest problem you'd have,' Aria continues, 'is when they run mental health checks. Her puppet state is buried deep enough they probably won't spot it unless they do a deep probe of her conciousness, which they would only do if they suspected tampering in the first place. So if you fix it so that she functions like a normal human being and maybe give her something to help her if she's caught in a sudden spot check she should be fine. It's certainly worth pursuing, The Merchant might be able to help you make things easier, he has all kinds of nifty gear.'
In the end Aria isn't convinced by playing with Sherry, still preferring to play with toys that don't move or talk. You promise the demon that she can play with puppet Sherry next time as she bids you goodbye and withdraws through the window. You rub the girl's head. Expecting her to impress an experienced demon like Aria when it was her first time doing anything like that was probably overly ambitious. But Aria didn't hate her time with Sherry, it just wasn't as effective as it could have been. Maybe if you try letting Aria play with a more experienced toy, like Cassie once she's ready, it might change her opinion. Though there would also be the age issue. Damn it…
For now you'll just have to resign yourself to another busy day tomorrow. You'll need to arrange for Maria to visit in the afternoon so she can be Branded, which will likely mean inviting Ami as well, seeing as Maria won't want to come on her own. Then you'll likely be spending the evening and night helping Aria. Not much time for your own activities. But Monday will be when you finally make a decision. You'll skip as much of class as you need to make sure everything is ready. And if all your targets aren't ready by the time you are, you'll need to consider whether it's worth postponing your plans or just waiting until after you move bodies to finish.
You decide to trigger Sherry after Aria leaves, keeping her in puppet mode for the rest of the night. You have to agree with Aria in this regard. Staring into her dull, vacant eyes and having your little sister move and pose her like a mannequin gives you a real rush. There's likely little else that can firmly establish a sense of ownership than the ability to strip a personality from a body in a moment, leaving nothing left but an object to be used how ever you desire to use it. At the same time you recognise that Sherry is far more useful to her with her capacity to think intact. Perhaps you'll try to find another puppet that won't be so easily missed.
In the end you and your minions head to bed. Lucy and Elisa fill in on either side of you as usual. As for Sherry you position her near the foot of the bed, lying perpendicular to the rest of you so you can rest your feet on her during the night. You make sure her head is sticking out of the covers and she has a pillow of her own to keep her comfortable. A simple order to sleep and her eyes close as though she's been switched off. You'll need to think of some other ways to play with her for the next time you get a chance. But for now, rest. You'll be busy again tomorrow.
This entry into The Diary is perhaps even more ridiculous than the last and involved Kairos attempting to purge all of his male flatmates from the building, leaving the entire block with only female tenants. He then went to great lengths to seduce every female living in the block, regardless of their age and finally declared himself the Harem King of Summerset House. It is at this point that his boss, The Genie, showed up and finally clocked Kairos around the head for wasting so much time on trivial nonsense. Hopefully the next entry will have something more substantial in it.