You wake to the sounds of your mother rubbing herself against you while playing with herself, one hand diving into her snatch while the other muffles her moans. Even as you blink awake she shudders in orgasm. It looks like removing Aria's soul fragment hasn't made too much of an impact. Once you get a spare moment you'll need to finish her programming, but that can really be done whenever, meaning it isn't a priority.
You carefully swing your legs out of bed, making sure you don't accidently kick your footrest in the head. Sherry hasn't moved a muscle the entire night, sleeping stiffly at the foot of your bed. Lucy is somehow still clinging onto you while still asleep and now you gently shake her awake and have her take Sherry to the bathroom. You could just return her personality to her but you'll need to do that later when Ami and Maria come to visit so you'll enjoy ordering her around in this state until then.
After breakfast you settle down on the sofa, Sherry on her hands and knees in front of you so you can continue using her as a footrest. Lucy as always cuddles up with you while you ponder your next move. While there are a fair number of things you could do this morning, the big event will be occuring this evening. In which case it would likely be best to try and prepare as best you can for it. So then, maybe you should test out your Demonic Providence ability, unlocked the other day. As you recall there are three types of ritual possible, General, Condensed and Specific.
General will have the weakest effect but will apply to everything for a predetermined period of time. Condensed will affect a specific type of fortune, meaning if you can work out what kind of good luck you may need it would be more beneficial than a standard all encompassing buff. And Specific would be the all in option, probably not advisable considering the scope of what you will likely be dealing with here. So the more feasible options would be the other two.
The big problem is, as always, that you haven't been given enough information. Aria was deliberately vague when it came to explaining what was going to take place this evening. Even more so when it came to your own involvement in it. This means you'll have to take a guess as to what kind of fortune you'd need. Failing that it would leave you with General being your only real option.
Without knowing enough about the situation you are facing it's likely better to just go for the General option. Perhaps next time you could aim for more information before performing a ritual like this. Not that you were given all that much time to actually gather that information, Aria's proclivity for hiding all the important stuff from you causing problems once more. You consult The Diary as to what to actually do when it comes to performing the ritual.
It seems as though the more you put into the ritual the more you can get out of it at the other end. Fair enough. The Diary uses a system it refers to simply as Providence Points, which of course it abbreviates to PP. Only someone with absolute power like the Demon Lord would be able to get away with this shit. The point is that the more PP generated during the ritual the stronger it will be. It's also possible to add malice to it for an extra boost.
Right now it would appear that blood will be the easiest thing for you to give up. There are four of you in the house right now, one adult and three children. If you all gave The Diary blood you could earn between 4PP and 9PP, depending on how much blood you give. The maximum value represents you all bleeding yourselves up until the point where it starts to threaten your lives. Of course, bleeding a person out entirely is also an option, but not one you'll be considering right now.
You could have everyone go all in for a more prolonged effect, but the effects will likely linger throughout the rest of the day, and possibly even into the next one. It certainly might be a sensible idea not to drain your own blood in any significant way, feeling tired or faint due to lack of blood later on could prove to be dangerous. You could also throw in a soul or two into the ritual for an extra 2PP each, though doing that feels somewhat ineffective and wasteful.
Trying to determine the best approach you consult The Diary's guide to rituals, seared into your brain when you purchased the ability. The base effect of a General Providence ritual is a 5% modifier. With 10PP you could increase that to 15% but that would involve sacrificing at least one soul. However, one soul would allow you to avoid bleeding yourself too much even if it would require everyone else to give as much as they safely could. Up to 50 Malice can be put into the ritual as well as a form of 'booster' which would increase it by up to 5%. 1% for every 10 Malice put in.
If you'd rather not drain everyone you could simply spend 5PP to prolong the effect of the ritual beyond a single day, allowing it to continue throughout tomorrow as well. With the limited resources you have available this seems to be all you can afford.
Probably best not to take the chance, you are an amateur at this, after all. Once mistake and you might end up endangering one of your precious minions. And that would be immensely wasteful. So you'll just expand it's length a bit. A simple Suggestion convinces your mother to take part. Lucy and Puppet Sherry, of course do not require convincing. You carefully press The Diary against your own wrist and feel it sucking the blood right out of you. You don't even feel the pain, though you are sure it is there.
Sherry, of course, doesn't feel the pain either. She simply stares blankly ahead as you take a hold of her wrist and press the tip of The Diary against it. Lucy, of course, does react to the pain, though she is certainly a brave little trooper and tries her best not to flinch or cry out. You stroke her head to reassure her after you finish. Your mother reacts the worse to this, as you could expect and you decide to hit her with a Sleep to quieten her down. You'll need to drain her for longer, though as an adult she can afford to lose more blood than you children can. Once you are finished you add the malice to boost the effect and you feel your Providence shift.
General Providence activated! 10% modifier to all rolls for the next two days!
Dismissing the others you pull out the Reality Notebook and write in Cassie's next instruction: 'You're a cocktease that gets off on manipulating men.' You then reengage Sherry's personality, you are fairly certain her puppet mode would raise eyebrows. Neither Maria nor Ami are far enough under your sway not to notice a difference that extensive. You also decide to refrain from using Aura this time round, Sherry has had enough Aura, you don't really want her to undergo any more, it might hamper her ability to act normal while in her shell personality.
Ami certainly seems happy to see you, Maria not so much. Interestingly enough, she seems wary of you a bit, and as a result she's a lot more subdued and a lot less rambunctious. She seems to deliberately sit as far away from you as possible on the table, which you and the other girls are completely fine and happy with. Sherry and Ami, blushes of different sizes on their faces, quickly take the seats on either side of you. Sherry shuffles her chair as close to yours as possible, Ami simply leans forwards, pushing her books towards you so the two of you can read them over together.
Maria stares at you and the others with a grumpy expression on her face. Wordlessly you give Lucy a command to distract the fourth wheel. Cuteness in full overdrive Lucy tugs Maria off her chair and leads her upstairs to play with her toys. Thus you are able to work on Ami without Maria's suspicious stare burning into you. You could of course just hit her with another Suggestion, but you feel as though this might be more satisfying. Perhaps you could even encourage her fear and paranoia and her suspicions. Though that could also be dangerous if she tells the wrong person about her concerns.
Putting that to one side for now you continue to coach Ami, slipping in the odd word and phrase that reminds her that she needs to listen to you and encouraging her to obey your instructions if she wants to get a good grade. You slip in small orders, telling her to hand you a pencil, or having her pour you a drink while you stroke Sherry behind her back. An hour's break sees the three of you watching television, both girls cuddled up against you on the sofa. A perfect opportunity. You Sleep Ami and trigger Sherry. Next you invade Ami's Dreams.
You start her off back in her own house. Her father and sister staring down at her with undisguised contempt. They ridicule her for her inadequacy, berate her for not being as smart as they are and chastise her for not being a proper part of their family. She's left crying in her room. She spends a few months trying desperately to impress her family, only to draw further and further away from them. More and more she finds herself being drawn to her Instructor. Her Instructor doesn't say mean things to her, he doesn't berate her or chastise her. He encourages her, cheers her on and guides her.
So long as she follows her Instructor's guidance she'll be fine. So long as she does as she is told she'll finally find a place where she can truly belong. You spend a bit of time reinforcing this idea, letting her mull it over. Not going too much further, you've still got a fair number of opportunities to work on Ami, you don't want to push her too far.
A knock on your door signifies Aria's arrival. You leave Ami to sleep on the sofa, heading to let her in with Puppet Sherry trailing behind you. Aria winks at you as she steps into the house, her excited eyes falling on Sherry with a certain glee. But there won't be time for fun this evening, there is apparently a lot of work to do today. Aria knows this as well for she quickly asks you for Maria's whereabouts and you direct her to Lucy's room. As you move past you hit Ami with another Sleep just to make sure she doesn't wake up too early.
Lucy and Maria seem to be having a good time in their room as the three of you arrive. You keep Sherry behind the wall out of sight and hesitate by the door, interested in Aria's approach as she walks confidently towards Maria. The youngster's eyes widen with surprise as she sees the older girl approach and she scrambles to her feet.
'Who are you?' the little girl demands, starting to back up. Aria's eyes sparkle with mischief as she bears down on Maria. With a sudden movement she brings up her hand in front of the youngster's face and snaps her fingers, conjouring a blue flame before Maria's eyes. She starts and presses backwards, but her back is to the wall now and she can't move any further away. Her large frightened eyes watch the flame with alarm as it crackles sultrily in Aria's hand.
'No need for alarm, cutie,' Aria teases, her voice soft and soothing, 'Big Sister isn't going to hurt you. See this fire? It's special! Can you see it? Watch it sway and dance.' You move closer, intrigued. This is certainly a lot different from your own methods. Lucy is also staring, her eyes wide, though for her it's curiosity prevalent on her face. Maria's mouth is open wide with surprise, her eyes fixed upon the swaying blue flame, unable to look away.
'Gooooood, girl,' Aria coaxes, clearly enjoying herself, 'just relax and focus on the flame, nothing else matters but the flame. Just keep watching it, relax and let your mind drift. Soooooo tired, soooooo sleepy.' Maria's gaze is wavering now, her eyes drifting, her face slackening as saliva begins to pool at the bottom of her mouth. You watch the fire reflected in her eyes replace their light, leaving her slumped against the wall, her stare vacant and her body limp, drooling onto her chest as her mouth begins to tilt. Aria taps a finger to Maria's forehead and the child's eyes drift close, her head falling forwards as enchanted sleep seizes full control of her senses. Aria is quick to pull Maria up and carry her to the bed, clearly having relished this little encounter.
You keep careful eye on the pair, wary that Aria might try to whisper some instructions or commands into Maria's likely receptive ears and mind. Aria sets the younger girl down on the bed with her head on the demon's lap, casually playing with Maria's dark hair as she gets to work implanting the Brand with her other hand. Perhaps you could press her for more information about where you happen to be going later.
You and Lucy sit yourself opposite Aria, Lucy entirely unaffected by whatever magic entranced Maria. Perhaps your firm grip on her soul also helps to shield her from other demon's powers? It might be worth exploring. You are interested in Aria's flame and how she used it just now. As much as you'd like to ask her about it you doubt she'd give you a straight answer. So instead you cuddle up with you sister and ask Aria the direct question.
'Are you going to explain what is going to happen next?' You ask her. Aria strokes the sleeping Maria's cheek.
'Of course,' she answers you, 'once I've finished with this little angel we'll head over to Soprano's place. He's got all of the fancy warp portals so he can give us a lift to the Golden Wheel. It's a casino, big and fancy. It's actually owned by a demon, a sweet gig he's got. Massive amount of malice earned every night without having to do much of anything. And you'd be surprised how many humans will give their souls just for a jackpot! Most of the clientele are, of course, human. But the VIP section we'll be using has certain safety measures installed that will allow us to use it.
'We'll meet up with the other members of the Orchestra and their proxies there, play a few rounds, exchange tedious pleasantries, gossip about local happenings meet and finish up by meeting with The Conductor. There will be a break in the middle, that's when you'll be able to complete your side project. Okay?' You can't help but notice she's once again neglected to mention what this game they'll be playing is actually about. It's certainly suspicious.
'How long for the Brand to take effect?' You ask her. Aria grins.
'Already finished,' she gloats, 'it really doesn't take very long at all, let me transfer it over to you.' She blows you a kiss and you feel the Brand transfer over to you. You'll now be able to influence Maria regularly just as you did with Lucy.
'If you are finished with her,' you continue, 'can I have a second to give her a quick instruction while you have her like that?' Aria widens her eyes and presses the unconcious child against her prominant chest.
'How terrible!' she exclaims, 'do you truly want to warp this precious darling's heart and mind with your evil magic?' You chuckle as you move forwards.
'At least I don't erase my victim's minds' you counter. Aria glances automatically to the wall Sherry is still obediently standing behind.
'Not entirely,' you correct yourself, leaning up against Maria's ear.
'You won't be able to tell anyone about your suspicions about us,' you command her. She mumbles in her sleep and seems to nod almost imperceivably. You take that to mean that your instruction took hold.
A blur of activity occurs next. You rouse Ami and Maria, return Sherry to normal and guide them all into Elisa's car to be taken home. All three girls seem confused and frazzled by their experiences at your place but they all wave goodbye to you as the car pulls away. Though you notice Maria seems a little alarmed at her little blackout. Maybe the suspicion and fear she'll be feeling from now on will provide you with some malice. Not likely to be that much though. You expect Aria to have some magical way of getting the two of you over to Soprano's place. As it turns out her big plan is for the two of you to use the bus. Unbelievable, she's doing this on purpose, you swear.
'Now,' she explains, 'you already know me and Soprano. Baritone I mentioned to you before. His area is directly east of mine and he's always thoroughly miserable! He never attends the Concerts himself operating through his familiar, Argulu. Watch out for that thing, it isn't usually dangerous, but it does have it's moments. As for the last one…' her face turns decidedly sour.
'Harmony is… what can I say about Harmony?' she struggles, 'Harmony is a colossal bitch and an eternal prankster and betrayer! She'll leap on any and all opportunities to stab you in the back! You can't trust a bloody word she says so don't even bother listening to a single letter of it, alright?' she moves her face close to yours, her gaze intense. You nod, somewhat wary now.
'Harmony is a hard time sadist,' Aria continues, 'she gets off on torment and suffering and dashing people's dreams after building them up. She's a shapeshifter like me, so no matter what form she takes do not trust her!' You nod, unsure why she feels the need to press this issue. You had thought it was obvious that you have no intention of trusting any of them! And that includes Aria. But she seems oddly concerned for you even though she is the one dragging you into this event. Sudden guilt over the situation? You doubt demons ever feel such a trivial emotion as that. Maybe this Harmony chick really is dangerous. It might be best to give her a wide berth.
Meeting up with Soprano isn't especially difficult. With Aria in her human form you walk straight through the front door. You are led to a side room and made to wait. As you do so Aria 'changes' into a more formal outfit.
You don't bother mentioning that she looks completely different from normal. However she feels comfortable presenting herself is fine by you. It doesn't take long for Soprano to arrive, accompanied by Sam, grumpy expression as always etched onto his facial features. The four of you move towards the large mirror on the wall and suddenly…
Fuck that takes some getting used to. A confused moment later you emerge from an alley way and find yourselves in front of the Golden Wheel. You are in a completely different part of the city, lots of money moves around here, you can tell. It's completely different from the sleepy suburbs you are used to. This must be the big city proper. All in all it's overwhelming. The sights, the sounds the smells! All around you, bombarding your senses. Little time to react, the others are already making their way inside. You'd best follow them in.
The interior of the casino is just as busy, loud and frantic as the area outside was. Possibly even worse.
All around you humans are trying their luck on slot machines, playing roulette, blackjack, poker, baccarat and all manner of games you can't even recognise. The greed is thick in the air, so many eager, desperate humans, all so excited to get that big win. Some might actually succeed and take home that grand prize. Most will not. They'll bleed their chips away frantically, all the while convincing themselves they can claw it all back. And their desperation and despair will feed the opportunistic bastard running the place. If only it was you…
'Welcome to the Golden Wheel!' an enthusiastic figure greets you.
'May I be of assistance?' She asks your group. Sam ends up doing the talking, Soprano practically recoils from the cheerful girl and Aria seems to have descended into sullen silence.
'We have a VIP reservation under 'Orchestra'' Sam informs the bunny girl. Something flashes behind her eyes for a moment but her smile doesn't waver.
'Of course, Masters, Mistresses, please follow me!' She leads you past rows of tables, up a flight of elaborate golden stairs with lavish red carpets and past a set of doors watched over by two intimidating men in suits. Your guide swipes a card across a reader and the doors open.
'There are two VIP sections,' Aria explains, sulkily, 'the Angel Wing and the Devil Wing. The Angel Wing is for important and influential humans. The Devil Wing is for us…' You resist the urge to roll your eyes. Real subtle, guys…
Your guide uses her card to show you into a private room, complete with a circular game table, four chairs, a bar and a second table overburdened with all manner of snacks, treats, nibbles and drinks. A television is located on one wall, the screen showing an image of the larger area you just came through. Assumedly the television shows the demons CCTV footage of the rest of the casino, in case they need to quickly escape from a Church or police raid. Standing in front of the television, watching the monitor with a grim expression is one of the largest men you've ever seen.
He doesn't bother turning around, simply glares with his arms crossed. On the other side of the room floats something…
A grotesque looking thing with one large eye, lots of sharp teeth and numerous tentacles, or maybe they are eye stalks instead. The large eye fixes itself on your group while the other eyes all move and twist erratically, glancing here and there rapidly as though always on the look out for danger.
'We are all here now,' it's deep voice booms out, 'let's get this over with then. The faster we begin, the faster we can go back to hating each other!' Aria glared at the creature.
'Speak for yourself, Baritone!' she hisses, 'at least we actually show up every month!'
'I hear, I see, I speak,' Baritone? answers, 'let's begin!' Soprano is already taking a seat opposite the creature.
'It is good to see everyone again,' he greets cheerily, though you feel his tone is somewhat strained. Sam takes up a position a few paces behind Soprano and to his left. The expression on his face makes you think of a death row inmate being led to the electric chair. Aria also sinks down into the seat closest to you and between the two.
'We should at least get the greeting out of the way,' she grumbles, 'then we can decide what rules we'll use this month.' Soprano simply nods.
You feel as though there is a certain custom to this meeting. Seeing as Aria didn't bother explaining anything to you she can't consider it that important. Still you wouldn't want to stand out as the clueless idiot who doesn't know what he's doing and ends up slowing everyone down. So you quickly move over to where Aria is. Or at least that's your plan. Until something knocks your leg out from under you and you begin to fall face forward onto the carpet…
Even with your Enhanced Reflexes you somehow cannot avoid eating carpet. You really do feel as though you are cursed by whatever God or demon watches over fate. How can you be this unlucky? Aria groans with irritation at your plight, while another voice breaks out in hysterical laughter by your head. Turning it to the side you see the little prankster who likely tripped you.
You can already tell, this little shit has to be Harmony. You have no idea how you missed her before but she's certainly right next to you now. Some sort of invisibility? Not that it matters right now. You climb to your feet and move over to where Aria is waiting. She is most definately not happy.
'Did you see that?' chitters Harmony, rolling around on the floor, 'he just fell flat on his face like a plank of wood! Like, bam! Didn't even try to stop himself!' She continues to laugh while the others exchange frustrated looks.
'If you are done fooling around!' demands Baritone, 'we might be able to get this started. Harmony flutters up into the air and whizzes between Aria and yourself. You instinctively lean back to avoid her but it's Aria she reaches out for this time. Clearly used to this sort of behaviour, Aria fends her off with a clenched fist. Rather than taking her seat, Harmony instead decides to sit on the table, swinging her legs in the air while gazing at you over her shoulder with an innocent smile.
'Gee,' she says, 'I'm terribly sorry, big bro! I wasn't looking where I was going! I hope you can forgive me!' The disgusting thing is she almost sounds genuine in her 'apology.' You make a point of looking away, allowing you instead to watch the large man take up a position by Harmony's unused chair. He must be her proxy.
'We will start with the greeting then,' Baritone announces. Soprano holds out a hand.
'Not quite yet,' he cuts in, 'where's your proxy, Baritone? I know you dislike these meetings but you did at least remember to bring one, right?' The familiar's many eye stalks all move as one to gaze into the corner of the room and your eyes move to follow. You hadn't actually noticed until now but there is someone else her. A girl, crouching in the corner of the room trying to look as small and inconspicuous as possible.
'Get over here!' Baritone orders her, and she scrambles to obey him.
To see her up close she looks rough. Beat up and bruised with bandages and plastered across her skin and dried blood on her lip. She's somehow soaking wet even in this luxurious environment and she looks thoroughly lost, miserable and beyond confused.
'I pulled this one off the street earlier,' Baritone explains, 'I told her I'd put her back after I was finished, assuming she behaves. She didn't want to at first, but I managed to teach her what happens to bad girls who forget their place! Isn't that right, wretch?' The girl nods quickly.
'I can't hear you, slave!' The creature demands.
'I understand, Master!' she cries, 'I'll behave! Please don't punish me anymore!' You feel as though your boss would kill to be able to break a new servant in so quickly, though it's quite likely this battered and bruised girl had a weak will to begin with. And how exactly did Baritone manage to just pull her off the street? These demons' methods are all so beyond you.
'Shall we begin the greeting now?' Soprano asks, sparing a sympathetic glance for the unfortunate girl, standing trembling besides the many eyed monster.
'Yes, let's' agreed Baritone. Harmony sticks out her tongue.
'Bah, do we have to? You know he doesn't actually bother listening to them!' she complains, 'I bet he's got a whole stack of them at his place, just sitting there completely forgotten!' The other three fix the tiny troublemaker with equally fierce glares. She sighs and nods.
'Alright, alright,' she relents, 'let's just do the stupid greeting and we can move on!' She spins round so she's now sitting cross legged on the table itself. All four of them cast their eyes above the table as the light starts to dim. A crystal ball floats down from the ceiling, seemingly of it's own accord.
'We greet the Master,' declares Aria, with the other three repeating after them. Then the demons begin to sing, lifting their voices up as though performing a song only they know the tune to. Their four distinctly different voices mesh together like an actual choir, changing in volume, tempo and tone as the 'song' proceeds without any real rhythm. To you it just sounds as though they are making as many different noises using the conglomeration of their voices as they possibly can. Eventually they stop singing and the crystal ball retreats back upwards. The lights return, revealing that Soprano is already shuffling the cards. You hadn't even seen them until now.
'Devil's Poker, standard hold'em, twelve rounds, Minor and Major, no Knights?' he asks. Harmony begins to pout.
'Aw come on!' she whines, 'we always play without the Knights! Let's leave them in this time!' The others don't seem enthused.
'I really don't see the point,' Soprano responds, setting the cards down, 'they really don't add all that much to the game, dearie.' Harmony bangs her tiny little hand on the table.
'Says you!' she cries, 'I think they are fun! Come on! Please!'
'I couldn't care less,' Baritone declares, 'you lot decide.'
Aria grimaces, looking undecided. Considering what she told you before she likely just doesn't want to agree to anything that will make Harmony happy. But maybe placating the brat now might let things run more smoothly. You could lean forwards and try to persuade Aria to fold on this. Or you could even try to push her into shooting her rival down. Not that you know anything about the game or what the significane of the Knights actually is. But it may be worth a try.
You look back and forth between the two of them, Harmony crying and pleading and thrashing her arms and legs while Aria grinds her teeth in frustration. In the end you sigh and remain silent. It doesn't matter, in the end. You don't know shit about this game and you couldn't care less if the Knights are included or not. So instead you detach yourself from this meaningless argument and cast your gaze around elsewhere.
Somehow your gaze meets the familiar's. Then again, with that many eyes it's difficult to avoid meeting it's gaze. Though right now it is looking at you with all it's eyes. Maybe it noticed your own internal dilemna? You could swear you see the faintest hint of approval in that intense stare. Did it connect with your apathy? You don't really know and a second later the weird moment you shared with the creature is gone. Aria slams her hand down onto the table.
'Enough!' she hisses, 'No Knights, let's just carry on as we usually do!' To your surprise Harmony takes this news in stride.
'Okay,' she says, admitting defeat immediately as though her tantrum just now had never happened, 'someone explain the rules! We wouldn't want people not to understand what's going on, right?' She giggles nastily.
Devil's Poker, 'developed' (while he was high as a celestial kite) by Demon Lord Kairos is different from regular poker in a few specific ways. To begin with demons play poker using Tarot cards instead of playing cards. The Minor Arcana come in four suits: swords, staves, cups and pentacles. Each suit is numbered up to ten and includes four picture cards. These are the Page, Knight, Queen and King. In Devil's Poker the Knight is a special card that has its own rules. The other three are considered the numbers eleven to thirteen as with regular cards.
The standard rules are much the same as regular poker. Each player starts with two cards and place their bets. After everyone has had the chance to call, fold or raise, three cards are dealt onto the centre of the table. After a second round a fourth card is played and after the third round a fifth card is played to the centre. After the fourth round, cards are shown and the losers pay their bets to the winner.
The three main differences are as follows. Firstly the players are also dealt cards from the Major Arcana which remain with the player, being redealt at the halfway point. These cards begin with #0, The Fool all the way up to #21, The World. These cards can be played at any time during a round and each card has it's own effects. For example The Fool, when played forces all players to immediately discard their hands and draw a new hand from the deck. Major Arcana can also be used to bestow penalties, as explained below.
The second main difference is that, after a round is over the winner of the round is able to declare a 'penalty' to be paid by the losers of the round. This penalty is in fact paid by the losing players' proxies. At the end of the game each participating player must select a proxy other than their own to declare the most entertaining throughout the game and present that proxy with a suitable prize. Demon Lord Kairos frowns upon those who provide shitty prizes to their proxies and so all proposed prizes must be inspected and confirmed by an impartial party before the game starts.
Thirdly the Knight is a special card that, when appearing in a player's hand can be used offensively or defensively. If a player opts to use it offensively they will reveal it and shuffle it back into the deck. At this time all other players must discard any picture cards they have in their hands and redraw. If played defensively a Knight will stay on the player's side of the field until a second Knight is played, at which point the player's defensive Knight will block the second Knight.
Knights dealt onto the centre of the table are always considered to be agressive and affect everyone. In addition, every player affected by a Knight will suffer a penalty to be paid by their proxy in the form of a sensation perfectly replicating the sensation of being stabbed in the chest by a sword. Defensive Knights also block this effect.
Demon Lord Kairos is not held responsibile for physical or mental trauma, PTSD, injury, disability or death of proxies throughout the duration of the game. Please play responsibly and insure regeneration and/or time reversal wards are in place to prevent permanent damage or death. Enjoy!
You listen to Baritone drone out the rules to the game as though he's bored of having to list them out. Then you glare at Aria who smiles mischeviously at you. You try to reflect on what you just learnt, if your demon loses a round the winner of the round declares a penalty. That penalty will be paid by you, the proxy. Which means if Aria plays badly you will be the one punished. Perhaps not relying on your own fortune might be for the best here, but still! You could be in serious trouble here! You are expected to suffer for the entertainment of this crazy sadistic demons!
Then again it isn't all bad. According to the rules if you play your role well enough and entertain the demons sufficiently you could be given rewards at the end of the game. Unfortunately, the only demon you know well here is Aria, the only one who can't give you a reward. You kind of know Soprano, but not well enough to just assume he'll give you a reward just for that.
So the best bet would likely be to focus your attention on one of the demons and seek to work out how you can impress that particular demon so as to guarantee yourself a reward. With these wildly different personalities here it's doubtful you'll be able to impress all of them, so at maximum you should only really pander to two of them. With your plan in mind you go back to being furious. Aria that little bitch, what has she suckered you into! And here you were starting to think you were getting along! If you make it out of this ordeal in one piece there will have to be words!
You take a moment to consider the other demons. How would you impress them? Baritone doesn't seem to care a jot for what's going on and seemed to react favourably to you apathy, so making a big show of not giving a shit would probably impress him.
Soprano may be more difficult, even though you should know more about him. He does seem to at times be the most sympathetic of the demons, though whether his sympathy is a strong enough character trait that he might actually act on it you aren't sure. He's still a demon after all and you did see that one side of him before the you feel is more realistic. That Soprano gave off more of a harsh taskmaster vibe and would likely appreciate a good show or something done with a professional flare. As such it will likely be difficult to impress both at the same time.
As for Harmony, who can really say how to impress the little freak. Considering how much she likes inflicting pain you could potentially make a big show and dance every time you receive and injury. Rather than showing no pain at all, you could go in the other direction. She'd likely enjoy that. Or you could seek to actively clash with Aria. Considering their relationship, antagonising Aria would likely help you win brownie points with Harmony. Though you aren't really sure tanking your own halfway decent relationship in order to try and impress the least trustworthy demon present seems like a fools game. Still you could always try to make it up to Aria later, assuming she isn't too pissed with you.
'First thing's first,' Aria continues as Soprano finishes shuffling the cards, 'we should remove Death and The Tower from the Majors.' Harmony is immediately at arms again.
'WHAT?' she whines, 'but those are some of the best ones! Why would we take them out?' Aria glances over at you. This time she actually looks worried.
'This isn't like you,' Baritone commented, sounding halfway interested for once, 'you haven't cared a fig for the lives of your proxies before now.' Aria winced as you try to bore a hole in the back of her head using just your gaze.
'This one isn't actually mine,' she confesses, 'he's actually Se… I mean he belongs to The Torturer.' Harmony and Baritone look at you with newfound interest.
'So what,' Harmony responds, seemingly by instinct, 'is she really going to care if he kicks the bucket?' This time she's the one attracting everyone's stares.
'Are you being serious?' Aria ridiculed her, 'this is The Torturer we are talking about! She's never had a single servant up until this one. Anything happens to him we'll all end up on her hook!' Harmony squirms in her spot as though imagining just that. Finally she nods.
'Alright,' she relents, 'take the fucking cards out. Fuck, but this is going to be a dull game! Geeeeeeeeeeeeez!' She goes back to swinging her legs. Soprano removes two of the cards from the Major Arcana pile and deals the rest out. As he does this you glance around at your fellow proxies interested in how they are taking the news. Your counterpart directly opposite doesn't seem to be reacting, though you can see his upper lip quivering. Sam looks hurt and outraged, clearly Soprano didn't tell him what was going on either. As for the girl, she's now lying on the floor clutching her stomach and openly weeping.
Aria flips through the five cards Soprano dealt her, straightens them out and then holds them out over her shoulder so you can see them. From left to right you read The Hierophant, Temperence, The Moon, The Star and Judgement. Not that you know what any of them mean, but it's a nice gesture at least. You don't see any of the other demons showing their cards to their proxies. Sam has leant forward and is having whispered conversation with Soprano, no doubt complaining about the mess he's now in. Harmony is poking her proxie with a fork, not even looking at her cards. And Baritone's proxy is still on the floor.
You briefly consider asking Aria to explain what her cards actually mean. Then you realise there's no point. You won't be the one deciding when to play them so it doesn't matter. And asking might irritate Aria as the others might hear her explain and know what cards she has. So you return to looking over her shoulder without taking much interest. You deliberately avoid looking over at Baritone this time, unwilling to tip him off that you might be trying to appeal to him by acting as though you don't actually care what is happening.
While you were busy pretending not to care the next cards have been dealt. Aria takes a glance at her cards and frowns. Either she's unhappy with her hands or she's trying to look as though she it. Baritone immediately raises and the other two call. Aria frowns and pushes her cards away.
'Fold,' she declares. Harmony cackles. Well shit, one round in and you'll already be looking forward to a penalty…
After the flop Baritone drops out, leaving Soprano and Harmony to fight it out. Harmony pushes a large raise near the end, which her opponent calmly matches, eventually defeating her by two pairs to her one. In frustration, Harmony slams one of her Major cards onto the table. The Chariot, playing this apparently allows the player to win the round but they only get to keep the chips of the third and fourth players. In addition they are forced to fold next round. Soprano shrugs, seemingly unconcerned at his victory being snatched away from him at the last moment. He's probably used to it. Harmony eagerly jumps up onto the table.
'Penalty!' she cries, 'Knight punishment for all of you!' Well, you saw this coming. Feeling as though a sword is being plunged into your chest is going to suck. But you can probably endure it without too much of a reaction. Though you could also allow yourself to react to it, hoping to appeal to Harmony's sadistic streak.
You aren't bothered by the upcoming penalty. You've been forced to live with pain like this for years on end. A single sword wound won't bother you overly much. And you are correct in that belief. You certainly feel the pain, perhaps it's the first time since you left the hook that you do feel it, but it's not enough to pull a reaction out of you. You make a point to stare directly into Harmony's deceptively wide and innocent looking eyes as you take the pain without so much as flinching. She's so angry at you she's practically shaking as she stamps her foot on the table, ignoring your neighbours completely.
Neither Sam nor the girl have been through what you have and for them this could be the most painful experience of their lives. She's screaming and writhing on the ground, begging and crying for it to stop. Sam's taking it a little bit better, but it's still brought him to his knees, gasping and choking. Aria laughs.
'Something wrong, Harmony?' she gloats, 'this isn't like you at all? I thought you enjoyed watching people suffer, but you're missing the show!' Harmony took a quick glance at the other proxies, but she ends up meeting your eyes again and turns away again with a huff. If she's this angry about no reaction, how angry would she have been if you had deliberately sought to antagonise her? Maybe she'd come after you in the middle of the night? It's certainly worrying. But nothing you can worry about right now.
The next round starts with a new hand dealt and everyone calling, with the exception of the still fuming Harmony, who is forced to skip due to her card play from the previous round. Baritone again drops out after the flop, leaving Aria and Soprano to fight it out. Soprano plays The Magician, allowing him to take the top three cards from the deck and choose the one that ends up on the table. Aria counters by playing Temperence, promptly ending the round with a draw. In this situation both Aria and Soprano are allowed to give a single minor penalty to one of the other proxies.
Soprano promptly targets Harmony's proxy, commanding him to put on a dress he just so happens to have on his person and act out a scene from one of his upcoming plays. The man stumbles through it, no doubt feeling humiliated but Soprano clearly appreciates the effort nonetheless. Now Aria needs to decide a penalty for Baritone's proxy, glancing over at you as though to ask if you have any preferences.
An idea occurs to you as you glance down at the poor girl on the ground. In a situation like this a simple act of kindness could be far more potent for wrapping her round your finger than any attempts at control or discipline. Baritone was fairly clear that he seemingly pulled her off the street just for this event and you believe he'll likely dump her back right where he left her, or failing that just leave her here for the casino staff to deal with. And in her current state she'll likely be easy to manipulate with your powers.
So then, you can use this chance to start to build up some 'good will' between the two of you. Suggest Aria give her a challenge that won't hurt or upset her any further in the hope that she'll start to view you as more sympathetic. Build on that a bit and she'll be fully open to your manipulations later. The only issue will be whether it's worthwhile to aim your hooks at her or not. Certainly you don't have time in your schedule to make a full project out of her but here and now there doesn't seem to be much harm in targetting her. You certainly wouldn't or couldn't aim for anyone else here.
As for Aria, she seems to like giving people challenges and watching them push themselves to fulfil her tasks. Though asking this girl to head out and get her some panties here and now might not be feasible. So then, something else she could be asked to do that Aria might also like. You think back to what you know about Aria. And the idea occurs to you. Singing. Aria had a great voice and she had often been used by her Master for her musical prowess. Among other things. Aria could challenge this girl to match her vocally. It might even do Aria some good to realise her singing talent can be used for more than just pleasing her dominating overlord. It will just be a matter of how Aria takes your suggestion.
You lean forward and suggest the idea to Aria. She frowns, clearly she's not fond of being reminded about her singing. As you feared she doesn't see signing as something she can enjoy but more as a task or a chore she needs to perform on demand. Still she doesn't outright reject you and coaxes the young girl onto her feet.
'As your penalty I'll be putting you through your paces. Let's see you try to match these notes.' She begins to test the girl's vocals. Soprano looks on, clearly interested. Harmony scoffs, clearly wanting a more vindictive penalty while Baritone's familiar, as usual, doesn't even bother to look.
You are surprised, so is everyone else in the room who cares. This frail, bruised, malnourished waif who looks as though a gust of wind would blow her over, is actually really good at this! She starts out hesitantly, chokingly, blinking back tears but under Aria's firm prompting she starts to pick up as she tries to follow the flow of Aria's own voice, soon she's matching the demon note for note so that even Aria seems impressed by her raw talent, stepping back once she's finished with a satisfied smile on her face.
'You did well,' she declared, 'that will do.' Harmony seems irritated that the girl will be getting off easily but there isn't much she can do. Soprano nods approvingly. Aria moves back to her chair as the girl stares blankly after her, looking like she can't actually believe that's the end of it. You catch her eye and offer her a reassuring smile. She doesn't exactly return it, but you do notice her gaze lingering on you as you return your own focus to the game. A quick exchange with Aria shows that she somewhat enjoyed the exchange as well. Nothing there will help you earn a prize, but there are other things you could potentially earn during this event.
Another round begins with all four players choosing to commit to the hand. Harmony seems excited, making a big raise in the second round that may well indicate she has something. You note Aria has a pair of tens, not bad. She seems confident she can match whatever Harmony has. Then Baritone plays The Fool. All the cards in the players' hands are discarded and redrawn. Aria now has nothing useful and quickly folds, as does Baritone. Harmony and Soprano push on to the end, with Harmony coming out on top this time. No cards are played to challenge the win, and she's certainly happy about it, jumping up and down with glee.
Her gaze focuses on you with clear misintent. She throws another Major card down on the table. Strength, apparently this allows her to hand out a second penalty to a particular player, or rather their proxy. Great, clearly you upset her by spoiling her fun in the first round and she wants to get you back now. Pettly little brat, to think she'd waste one of her Majors using it in such a way. But first, the group penalty.
'Don't think you'll get out of this one easily!' she cackles, pointing a finger at you, 'let's see how calm you are when you lose the use of your fingers. Boyce! Break three fingers on their dominant hands!' The large man behind her moves forwards with measured strides and an impassive expression. He moves towards Sam first, who happened to be closest. The trap grits his teeth and holds out his hand, though his angry gaze is focused on Soprano's back, rather than at the man before him.
'Sorry, pal,' the giant mutters, as he grabs Sam's hand with his much larger one. Sam manages to resist crying out the first time, grunting into his free hand for the second snap. The third proves to be too much for him and he is forced to let out a yell as the pain overcomes him. Harmony cheers and whoops at his suffering, but it's clear you are the one she most wants to see in pain. You are just as determined not to let her as you offer your own even smaller hand out for the giant looming over you.
The massive giant Boyce hesitates as he looks down at you. For a moment you think that he's doing so out of concern for the small child in front of him, then you realise that his hand and fingers are so large that he can't actually get a good grip on your own tiny child like fingers. In the end he compromises by sezing two of your fingers at once and twisting them back deftly with a crack of bone. You are actually surprised he didn't tear them off completely with the strength of that tug.
You certainly feel the sensation of your fingers breaking, but actually the sword wound from earlier was probably more painful. This pain will be nastier in that it will linger, while the sword was a one and done. With two of your fingers broken Boyce hesitates again. Enraged by your non reaction Harmony simply tells him to break two more. Another deft movement and all four of your fingers are broken and useless. That's a bit annoying, you will need them later. You'll just have to hope you can heal them before you need to do your job for Aria. You look back up at the giant. Does he look, unsatisfied by this? Perhaps you should say something to him.
You meet the brute's eyes and silently hold out your thumb. He doesn't seem to react but a vein throbs on his temple as he grips your last healthy digit as though in a vice, trapping it like a mouse trapped in a snake's coils. For a moment you feel as though the man might actually try to rip your thumb right off but his gaze drifts for a split second to where Aria is sitting, eyeing him dangerously. Then he grunts, snapping your last digit without further concern and beginning to move away. You immediately activate Regeneration, though whether it will be sufficient to fix your injuries you aren't sure.
On the other side of the table Harmony is in full tantrum mode, though the cries for mercy and the ear piercing shrieks as the girl receives her penalty do seem to cheer her up a bit. Aria chuckles as she watches her rival be so unhappy. But of course the ordeal isn't finished yet. Harmony can still hit you with another penalty thanks to that card she played. Considering how ineffective physical torment has been on you so far she's likely thinking…
Then she thrusts out her finger, cries out a command and the entire room fades away. A familiar sharp pain enters your back and shoots upwards, blossoming on your chest. A room forms around you, one you are very much familiar with. It's The Torturer's private chamber and you are back on the hook once more, hanging suspended in the air above a massive cauldron of boiling hot water, waiting upon your beast of a Mistress to visit and release even more sadistic punishment upon you.
You close your eyes and focus. You doubt this is actually your Mistress' room. More likely this is some form of powerful illusion conjured up to torment you pschologically. Maybe the little devil commanded you to relive your worst fear or something similar. Hopefully that doesn't mean you'll need to endure this for another sixty years. Though if it is happening inside your own head who the fuck knows? How long are you able to extend time while you are messing around in someone's head? And yours is just a basic level ability.
Depending on the power of whatever ability is being used on you there could be a large difference in the amount of time you are stuck in here. And is the illusion detailed enough that it will be able to replicate your boss and her other methods, or are you just going to be hanging here indefinitley? So then what are your options? You could just endure for as long as necessary, try to return to that calm place you found the first time. Or you could make a big show of breaking down in the hope that Harmony will be satisfied and let you out. There could also be the method of trying to break free of whatever illusion has a hold of you, though you aren't exactly sure how you'd be able to manage it.
Enduring has always been your one real strength. At least until you caved and sold your soul to a sadist bitch who just wanted to break you and build you back up again. Then you were forced to endure again. For so long. It's almost infuriating how easy it is to slip back into the old habit. Your last couple of weeks have been so intense, so busy and so frantic. Struggling to fulfill your Mistress' wishes, struggling to avoid being found out by the Church, hiding your misdeeds from the police, trying to solidify your power base in the body of a fucking child… So much work.
And now you're back on this stupid hook anyway, and you'll likely end up here again if The Torturer ever finds out what the difference is between an unwilling soul and a willing one. But those are concerns for another time and another place. Here and now you don't actually need to worry about that, or really about anything at all. If you can just screen out the pain of the hook imbeded in your back, sticking out of your chest and tearing all your organs to pieces, if you can just screen out the pressure, as gravity continues to push you down onto that hook so that one day you'd actually end up being torn in half, your mutilated body toppling into the water to roast and steam. If you can just ignore all of that, it's really not so bad here.
'It really is,' you hear, 'we should just stay here.' The fuck? Who is that?
'Me,' it answers, 'you know, we've been so busy lately, we really should just relax for a bit, right? You were soooo close to it the other day, just take a day off for a while and do nothing. It would be much better!' Ah, right. This must be Sloth, one of the other yous. You haven't heard a peep out of him all this time, but now he decides to chime in?
'No!' another voice chips in, 'it isn't enough! We need more! More wealth! More power! More servants! More slaves! More women! All the women! GIVE ME MORE!' This would be Greed, ranting and raving. You are trying your best dude, chill. So many of them will be ready soon.
'Not soon! Now! Don't mess around!' it chides you. Well shit, now you are arguing with yourself inside your own head. If you weren't convinced before about your questionable sanity you sure are now. You can't seem to hear the voices of the other two, Lust and Wrath, though that might be for the best. Wrath would likely have some choice words for you after letting Kevin go without rubbing your victory in his face. But you don't really have much to say to any of your other personalities other than you wish they wouldn't exist at all. So you try your best to screen them out, siphoning off some of Sloth while you can, using this as an opportunity to restore your mind somewhat. Greed also decides to feed, growing more prominent after being subdued for a while.
Your mental distribution has changed. Current percentages are:
You (Pride) – 33% Lust – 5% Wrath – 15% Greed – 14% Sloth – 33%
You can now converse with Greed and Sloth during quieter moments and possibly glean from them ways to satisfy them and thus continue restoring your mind.
You blink. You are back in the casino… How long? You don't even know… Crap, that was… Not good? You lost yourself again. Damn… You hope no one else was able to see what you did. Though they'd probably be really bored watching you just hang there. A hand touches your forehead and you realise you are having trouble focusing. A face moves in front of yours. Is it concerned? Angry? Worried? Probably none of them… These people are demons after all.
The fuzzy face moves away and faraway conversation starts up. Angry voices? Gleeful? Unconcerned? You try to focus. It's still difficult.
'They should all be MINE!' Oh fuck, you aren't going to keep doing this now are you? Piss off! And you are the one in charge, not him! You are pretty much doing what he wants you to anyway. After you take full control of Cassie, Ami and the others Greed won't have shit to say anymore.
The game has of course moved on without you and you've missed whatever reactions the demons may or may not have had to your reaction to whatever Harmony did to you. Out the corner of your eye you spot the waif crouched in the corner again, nursing her broken fingers. Sam's doing a better job of coping, though his face is cold fury. You find yourself curious if Soprano had chosen to maintain Sam's personality just to farm malice out of him, you can't imagine this type of personality would be good on stage…
Looking back at the table you note that Aria has played The Moon, meaning that the players aren't allowed to look at their cards for this round. So this is truly a round based on pure luck. Baritone has already folded, no doubt he has no patience for such nonsense. Soprano also caves quickly, likely disheartened by Harmony's reckless raises. The brat is taking advantage of her previous win to try and bully the others into folding. There's cold steel in Aria's expression as she stares her smaller opponent down. You aren't sure exactly what happened while you were out, but the mood has soured, though that might just be your muddled head trying to make sense of everything.
The cards on the table are ridiculous. Two aces, two nines, it's unlikely either Aria or Harmony will have anything better than that in their hands. Both flip their cards. Nope, a draw. Then Aria plays one more of her Major cards. The Star, apparently this lets her swap a card in her hand for a random ace. She pulls out the ace of wands, a simple illustration of a hand holding a wooden staff. You briefly imagine it smashing down over Harmony's head. Three aces means three of a kind. Aria has won, taking a sizeable chunk of Harmony's chips with her. Harmony's cherubic face goes a funny shade of purple. But Aria only smiles smugly.
You decide to keep to your original goal. Considering Aria's relationship with Harmony, and her repeated attempts to damage you, you are fairly confident that your position with Harmony is irreconcilable. Besides, the bitch put you through Hell so you'll take every opportunity you can to strike back at her. At the same time you are still hoping to impress yourself upon the injured girl. So you should stick with the singing idea you had before. You know Soprano will enjoy this as well, and as he can't vote for Sam, she'd just need to perform better than Boyce to win his favour.
You make sure to frame your suggestion to Aria in a way that makes it clear that the primary aim is to stick it to Harmony. Aria is more than eager to agree to such a goal, immediately proposing a sing off. All the other proxies have to sing three nursery rhymes while standing on one foot. You assume Aria picked nursery rhymes because she hangs around young children a lot, twisted though that may be.
She tries her best, but you can tell she's still struggling with the pain. Her voice is good but she can't seem to maintain her balance while on one leg, causing her to lower it a fair number of times to prevent falling over. Sam's voice is likely not as good, if both of them were in a normal state of being, but he's handling the pain better than she is, managing to get through his songs without having to lower his leg more than once or twice.
Boyce on the other hand stubbornly refuses to perform. You have no idea why, he performed for Soprano when asked and that was way more embarrasing. Maybe Harmony told him not to follow any of Aria's penalties? At the end of the day that's only going to hurt him, though refusing to play ball might end up allowing him to earn Baritone's favour. Aria seems more impressed with Sam's ability to fight through the pain and you find yourself frustrated that your plan might end up being waylaid by your own partner giving her reward to someone else.
Though likely you could strike a deal with Aria to make sure she rewards the girl you'd rather avoid that. Who knows what Aria would want in return, after all you are only in this situation because of a favour you owed her. The girl's broken fingers might cause more issues later and you can't help but wonder if there's anything you can do about that…
An idea occurs to you. You have 100 Malice in your reserves, you could use it to unlock Transferred Enhancement. With that you could then bestow Regeneration on the girl and help her recover from the pain of having her fingers broken. Not only that, you could also use a Suggestion to dull the pain she's feeling further and help her perform better in future.
If you make a show of helping her now, she's likely to feel better about you, which in turn will make it easier to later get her, and whatever rewards she might earn during this event, into your pocket. It's not likely to cost you all that much either. You've never needed to expend all your Stamina in a single day anyway, and you still have plenty of Mana left for a single Suggestion.
You'll take the hit and heal her. Transferred Enhancement is useful enough that it won't feel like you are taking a hit for doing this. But you'll refrain from using Suggestion on her, it might not be a good idea to reveal one of your cards in front of all these rivals and enemies. You move over to her while Soprano shuffles the cards for the next round. She's on the floor again, still cradling her broken fingers and whimpering. You crouch down next to her and lay your undamaged hand carefully atop hers. You feel your ability activate, slowly beginning to repair the damage to her bone. It may take a while, but she'll be back to normal eventually.
She stares up at you with wide eyed confusion. You give her an encouraging nod and move away from her, keeping your voice level. Baritone's familiar's eyestalks follow you as you return to your position. You meet the creature's main eye and shrug.
'The whimpering was getting on my nerves,' you explain, keeping your voice level. You have no idea whether Baritone accepts that explanation or not, the next round is starting.
The fifth game starts well for Aria, she draws a pair of sixes, not very strong, but a pair off the draw is still reasonable. Harmony also seems keen, though she may just be faking. From what you understand, Harmony is actually supposed to be the most slippery and deceitful of them all. You haven't really seen that here, she seems to have been wearing her heart on her sleeves this whole time. Either Aria greatly embellished in her description of Harmony's character or the little demon has actually been putting on a facade this whole time. It's difficult to say for sure, though you certainly aren't going to trust her regardless.
A round into the game Soprano plays his Hermit card. Now everyone discards down to only a single card in their hand. Aria and Harmony fold immediately. Baritone chooses to play on, but neither raise very high and Soprano ends up by pairing the ace in his hand to the one on the table. His winnings aren't great, still he's probably winning, or at least close to winning. You haven't really been paying attention to the players' scores, and you don't really think they have been either.
Soprano now has the right to choose a penalty and he seems excited by this, looking over at you with an expression that makes you shudder. Fuck, he's going to do it, isn't he? Yep, there's the dress, a small dress to fit your seven year old body. Boyce already has a dress, of course and you are fairly sure Soprano couldn't care less about how the girl performs here. His instruction is simple enough, he wants the three of you to perform a scene from his play together. You can't help but wonder if all his penalties are going to be like this.
You actually have an advantage here, working with Soprano and his crew has given you a better understanding of what he likes. You are fairly confident with Enhanced Reflexes you can probably perform better than Boyce or the still nameless girl. The question will be if you even want to. Is it worth performing well to try and earn points with Soprano, or just go through the motions to appeal to Baritone and maybe let the girl win instead?
You slip into the role easily enough, trying your best to mask your embarassment at having to wear the dress. Performing as well as you can will likely cost you points with Baritone, but Soprano has been good to you and will hopefully continue to be a reliable source of souls and other support going forwards. It's probably more important to keep your relationship with him going strong rather than risk tanking it by trying for a one time reward of unknown value. Besides, it isn't as though the others have done much to appeal to Baritone. You should still be ahead in that regard. Boyce is your only real competition as far as that is concerned and he's participating in this as well.
Your experience and knowlege allows you to outshine the other two easily, Soprano clearly enjoys watching you perform like this. You just hope he doesn't expect you to do it again the next time you visit. You really don't want to be given the full 'trap' experience and end up like his other 'girls.' Boyce again surprises you by doing a decent job of keeping up. He moves well for such a big guy. A shame. Not that it likely would have mattered because the poor girl is really struggling.
Exhausted and injured with little to no enthusiasm she likely couldn't care less about whatever vague 'reward' she's been promised. She likely doesn't even believe there will be one. And you can't really blame her as she stumbles along with you, too scared of being punished again to do otherwise. One time she stumbles and falls into you almost sending you both crashing to the floor. Thankfully your Enhanced Reflexes and her not weighing all that much manage to prevent that. You allow her a moment to compose herself before carrying on. Not as good a result as you had hoped but nevermind.
'I guess I should win one at least,' Baritone declares dryly as the sixth and final game before the halftime break begins. You resist the urge to raise your eyebrows at the man's confidence. The cards haven't even been dealt yet and he's already assuming he's going to win. However, the others exchange disheartened glances. Maybe Baritone is the sort of player who does really well when he actually tries? You wouldn't be surprised. Perhaps one of the reasons why he's so indifferent to all this is because he's so much better than the others that he's grown bored and no longer bothers trying? It certainly sounds feasible.
As though issuing a direct challenge Harmony immediately plays The Sun, meaning that everyone must play this round while revealling their cards to everyone else. Nothing spectacular, though Harmony seems proud of her King and Queen of Cups. With the flop revealling another Queen both she and Soprano look to be doing well. Aria quickly folds but Baritone simply sighs. First he plays The Lovers, a bizare card that ties the fates of two players together. Then he plays The Hanged Man, forcing Harmony and by extension Soprano, to fold instantly. Well he certainly did win, though you don't really know what he achieved by that, essentially scraping up everyone's antes and not much else. Maybe he just wanted the penalty?
'A test,' Baritone drones, 'last one to falter wins.' A new table appears behind the familiar, his proxy scuttling out of the way, likely happy to finally be free of the penalties. The rest of you are instructed to place your hands flat on the table, the last one to remove it will win. Above you the ominous buzzing of a saw blade starts up. A quick glance upwards confirms it, the saw blade begins to slowly descend threatening to cut through your wrist and remove your hand entirely. A good job you are using the hand with broken fingers…
You regard the saw blade bearing down on you with a little interest. When was the last time your Mistress used it on you? Five, six years ago? It was at one point one of her favourites, but she always complained that the blood went everywhere. Funny that she had so much power and such a strong obsession with torture but never got over that little hang up. Someone as strong and powerful as her probably has a bunch of ways to clean up blood, why was she always complaining about it?
You aren't really concerned by the blade approaching you, threatening to reduce your arm to a little bleeding stump. It will certainly hurt, a rotating saw blade never does anything quickly or cleanly, and continuing on without your hand will certainly be inconveniant. But the pain will pass and you'll be moving on sooner rather than later, assuming the demons don't reattach your hand later. Besides, you're a child, your arm is tiny. Both Sam and Boyce will have to endure the saw before you have to, so you won't be the only one. And you doubt the two of them care as little about their hands as you do. They only have two, after all.
Surprisingly, the big man cracks first. How humiliating must it be to be defeated by a child and a boy in a skirt? You'll have to ask him later. Sam hangs in there for longer as the blade moves down. Then he makes the mistake of looking you in the eyes. Actually, that might have been the best decision he's ever made. He sees there's no give in you, no concern whatsoever. He realises he's going to lose, even if it's because his arm will eat the saw first. And he's not the sort of person who is going to trust these freaks to give him his hand back if he loses it here. So he pulls it away. You are victorious.
Even so you make a point of leaving your hand in place for longer, drawing it out as the blade decends still lower. Both Boyce and Sam would be feeling the bite at this point. Then you pull away, just before the blade would reach you. A test of nerve like this is easy when you have nothing to lose.
'Impressive,' Baritone comments, 'is that bravery, foolishness or insanity? Maybe some combination of the three? Though the thrill is somewhat ruined by such an attitude. No matter…'
With that last round over the break is officially declared, allowing you all a likely much needed breather. Harmony and Boyce are already on their way out of the door, she complaining loudly about the large man's performance, declaring he should have willingly lost his hand to entertain her. You'd feel bad for him if he hadn't broken your fingers earlier without any remorse at all. The girl returns to her corner, crouching down and hoping no one notices her. Soprano and Sam withdraw to a seperate part of the room, their conversation is hushed, but also heated. Most likely Sam is venting about what he's been forced to endure so far. You doubt Soprano will put up with that for long.
You of course have your own mission to acomplish during this period, though you are fairly sure it isn't going to take up all of your time. You likely have time for a few other things beforehand, or perhaps you should get the important task out of the way first and then use your free time however you wish afterwards.
You nod to Aria on your way out, best to get the panty job out of the way first just in case you run into any unexpected trouble. Aria told you as you arrived that the VIP area was divided into two wings, Devil and Angel. As you are in the Devil Wing now you'll need to head over to the Angel Wing. The main problem as you see it will be that a seven year old child in a casino sticks out like a chicken at an underwater, penguin only nightclub. Anyone who spots you who isn't staff will immediately be suspicious. And considering these are real VIPs it's doubtful they'll buy a 'little lost child' excuse.
So then you'll probably have to Null your Presence almost from the word go if you want to minimise the risk of being spotted. It might save time to ask a member of staff where this big shot T.V personality is, though they likely won't tell you without a bribe of some sort. Then again, it could be possible to use Suggestion to turn away curious eyes, it would likely be more cost effective than Null Presence, assuming you only run into one or two people in the corridors. Regardless you'll need to reach the target with at least some Mana otherwise you won't be able to 'convince' her to hand over her underwear to you. Though most likely you'll just Sleep her…
You spend a little bit longer than you'd have liked walking up and down the lavish corridors, carefully peeking into rooms and then withdrawing when you can confirm there's no sign of your target. You are always a touch nervous when you do this, people won't notice you but they are likely to notice doors opening and closing of their own accord. If you had unlocked Clairvoyance you'd be able to make sure no one is looking at the door before you open it to make sure you aren't detected. Just such an occurance happens five minutes in.
A patron happens to be looking at the door just as you open it, causing him some alarm. You have to hastily Suggest to him that someone must have started opening the door and then realised they had the wrong room and moved away. This seems to work and you quickly move on. After reapplying your Null Presence you find an area of the Wing with more armed guards than you'd seen previously. Assuming another big wig wasn't also visiting today this is most likely the place. You make your way past the first few guards without issue.
However, by the last two doors you see a dog. You fight the urge to groan. Not another fucking dog… Though this one is a distinctly different breed from the ones you've seen before, so it likely doesn't have anything to do with Ina. Using the whistle on it seems like something of a waste so you'll hopefully be able to get round it using Animal Whisperer.
Wary about the beast's sharp nose detecting you, you decide to give it a simple instruction to leave it's post and head down the corridor. The men might be confused to see Fido leave his post but it shouldn't raise any alarms. Of course, it is in this moment that, true to form, your ability fails to take hold sufficiently. How you hate these creatures and their ability to fight off your hold! The dog senses your efforts and lets out a bark. In panic you are forced to command it again, this time simply causing it to ignore what it just sensed. Of course, now you have alerted the guards and so you have little choice but to dart into one of the rooms at random and hope you find the right one.
A security guard actually opens one of the doors for you, likely coming to check on the dog and you dart in quickly before it closes. He likely won't be out there for long. Inside the room is another armed guard, a bunny girl, likely here to entertain the guests, and…
This must be her. You aren't sure why you are surprised that she's so young, it was Aria who sent you on this mission after all. But still the sight of her surprises you. It looks to you as though she's stepped out of an entirely different era. The kimino, or at least you assume it's a kimono, is the first big clue. It simply screams foreign.
But it's the scroll she's reading that's the big oddity. Does this girl not know you typically used books now? Or hell, you can read using your phones in this strange era. That's something you have had to get used to. When you were still alive and in your real body a phone was just a phone. But this girl is somehow even more behind the times than you are. There's likely a bigger story at play here, there usually always is. But it's a story you'll likely only have a minor role in. At least for now. You've already exhausted more of your Mana than you'd like. You'll use a bunch more of it here and now and have precious little to make your escape. Time to decide how to handle this.
While a blanket Sleep might do the job easiest, it's an ability you haven't used yet and you are reluctant to try it out here and now. Perhaps more importantly you don't really want to mess with the staff members. Who knows what kind of security the demon in charge of this place has that would alert him if something happened to one of his girls. You'd certainly implement something like that if you were in the guy's shoes. No, the last thing you want is to have yet another pissed off powerhouse coming after you. You'll stick to what you know and play it safe.
A simple Suggestion has the girl walking over to the bathroom, feeling as though she needs to pee. Still Nulled, you follow after her. The bunny girl gives you a wink as you walk past her. Well crap, good job you didn't mess with her then. You quickly slip into the bathroom with the child before she closes the door and then wait while she fiddles around untying her obi. You are struck with a terrible thought. Don't they normally say that women don't wear underwear under a kimono?
Fortunately this one is wearing undies as you see her pull them down. You bend down and carefully ease them off her leg, using another Suggestion to cause her to believe that she didn't actually put on a pair of panties this morning. Stuffing the elaborate flowered patterned piece of cloth into your pocket you make to leave, only to remember that you can't open the door without risking the guard outside seeing the door open of it's own accord.
So you are forced to wait akwardly with your back to the child, trying not to listen to the noise. Then you need to wait for her to put her kimono back on, a lengthy process it would seem, and finally you have to awkwardly shuffle around her as she moves past you to wash her hands. Only then can you leave the room after her.
Another application of Null Presence and you are back in the corridor, having been let back out by the same guard who let you in to begin with. You dart past the dog, which doesn't seem too bothered by you. Likely he doesn't care who is leaving the room, just who is apporaching, either that or your previous Animal Whisperer is still affecting him. As you know your way now you are able to leave the Angel Wing without needing to use any more Mana, bringing your prize with you. A bit messy but the job is done with a little mana to spare.
You head back into the main casino area where the less important guests are. You'll need to hope the guards remember you and let you through the security door on your way back, though you would like to believe you are pretty distinctive. You seek out one of the bunny girls, looking to obtain some information about some of the bigger names present today. It's a shame that you don't really have enough mana left to take advantage of any opportunities, but information should still be useful. At least, it doesn't hurt to ask.
You manage to find the same friendly bunny girl you spoke to before.
'Good evening, Young Master,' she greets you, 'a pleasure to see you again? Might I be of assistance?' You look her over, realising too late that you are too low to the ground and too close to her to be able to appreciate the generous amount of cleavage you'd spotted on your approach. Curses, foiled again! So instead you simply make your request.
'Oh?' she says, cocking her head, 'what could Young Master possibly be asking for such information for? You must understand that so long as our customers are inside the Golden Wheel they are protected by the strictest of confidentiality agreements!' you begin to deflate at the waste of time, before you spot the loophole and eagerly leap on it.
'And what about when they aren't inside anymore?' you ask. The girl's eyes light up.
'Well we only have a duty to our customers while they are our customers!' she informs you. You aren't exactly sure how safeguarding and data protection works but you are fairly sure it doesn't work like that. But you don't really care.
'Then please do what you can,' you ask her. She nods and produces a bizare pen with two heads scribbling quickly on a piece of card before spinning the pen around and continuing to write with the other side. She then hands you the card as though she does this all the time.
'Please enjoy the rest of your evening!' she tells you. You move away from her, take one last quick look to satisfy your eyes and then consult the card she's given you. Written upon it are four names with an occupation written next to it. Gaps have been left between each one, presumably more information about the guests will appear once they've left the casino. If that information includes their addresses or places of work you might be able to target them at a later date. Though it might be worth taking a bit of time trying to find one now…
The names on the card read as follows:
Terrence Southern - Consultant for the police
Hudson 'G Dog' Zenith - Mid rank enforcer for the Hellhounds
Donna Lapis - Accountant (crooked)
Juliet 'Julie' Cheddar - Casino Staff /Spy (works for the Guardian Rat)
A double agent, reporting to both the Master and the Rat, her usefulness has expired and she won't be missed. Ask at front desk for more information or look forward to next month's auction…
You assume that more information will appear later but there isn't much you can do right now. You could ask about Julie but you wouldn't have the time to settle anything right now. Perhaps if you come back within a month an arrangement might be made, but you doubt you can pull anything off this evening.
Though it does raise a good point, you really would like a hot bunny girl as one of your minions. You'll definitely need to get your hands on one at some point, or make your own. No doubt Venus would make a good bunny girl, and the irony would be endlessly amusing. But for now you'll just have to dream as you make your way back to your room.
You return to the room to find most everyone is right where you left them, with the exception of Soprano, who has returned to his seat and Sam who is now making an impressive effort to devour every scrap of food on the side table. You give Aria a quick thumbs up to let her know you completed the task she assigned you and approach the injured girl, wanting to make a good impression on her before everything starts again. She's clutching her head with her arms as though trying to shield herself from more pain. You crouch down next to her.
'Hey,' you begin, making her jump, 'stupid question, but how are you feeling?' She looks at you with wide, terrified eyes and shakes her head. You hold up your hand, showing her your mostly healed fingers.
'Now you,' you say. Even in her misery she understands, holding out her own hand. You carefully assess her injury, testing each digit individually. Interestingly enough she's actually already fully healed, as far as you can tell. Your own fingers aren't fully mended yet, is this because you have more fingers to heal? Another look at her shows that your ability has also healed the numerous cuts and bruises on her body. She still looks frightened, miserable and malnourished but she certainly looks a lot better than she did when this event began.
'My name is Zach,' you tell her, how about you?' She gulps, clearly struggling to find her voice.
'I'm…'she tries, trying to fight away the endless flood of tears, 'I'm, Megan…' At least you finally have a name for her, that's a good start. You already have a good idea of what you want out of her, so you engage her in conversation.
As it turns out Megan is a runaway. Abused by an alcoholic father who had sought to whore her out for money and had gotten angry when she had refused, abandoned by a mother who clearly cared little about her Megan had run away from home with only a handful of notes and her uniform. She'd been sitting in a side alley, nursing a black eye and feeling sorry for herself when there had been a flash of light and she'd woken up in a cold stone room. She'd been 'trained' by one of Baritone's servants for a few hours, informed of what was expected of her and told she'd be put back where they found her once everything was over. Her hopeless attitude makes it clear that she doesn't actually belive them.
Her miserable situation is music to your ears. No family, no friends, no hope at all, she's practically begging to have you put a collar round her neck and take her home as your new pet. The only problem you can think of is if she lives too far away from you, thereby making it difficult to find her after you return. And of course if she doesn't actually receive any rewards tonight she might not be worth picking up, considering the added work she'll no doubt bring with her.
But you can decide if you want her later. For now you need to continue laying the trap around this naive, innocent creature. You'll need to tell her more about yourself, in a way that is useful to your current goals.
You give her a fairly realistic description of your own family life, designed to make her both green with envy and flush red with desire at your seemingly picturesque life. You describe Aria as someone who hadn't been apologetic about abducting you in the middle of the night to play her game, but she also seemed to be a fairly reasonable sort who had given you a charm earlier that blocks out the majority of the pain you feel. You gesture to your bracelet, hoping and praying that Megan doesn't ask you for it herself.
Finally you give her your address and invite her to come visit whenever she wants. Of course, you are hoping she'll make a beeline for your home the moment she is put back where she was found, but you don't feel as though asking her directly would be best. It would possibly be seen as another attempt to exploit her. You can't look too eager to have her stay at your place. It would be far better if the idea to seek shelter at your house was her idea. You could even enforce that idea with a Suggestion, though you only have 10 Mana left. Not that you can expect your remaining Mana to help you throughout the rest of the poker game after all. With that in mind you can't think of much else you'd use it for. Still, you never know…
As much as you are confident you won't be needing your Mana moving forwards you can never be sure. And besides, where else can she go? You are fairly certain she'll make her way to your place without any further encouragement from you. And if you really find yourself being uncertain you can use the Suggestion on her later on, at the end of the game. So you decide to hold off for now and apply your charm on her the old fashioned way. Acting sweet and cute, innocent and eager. Nothing at all like a devious little fuck who just wants to lure her in and then brainwash her into a loyal pet. Nope, nothing devious going on here.
You make pleasantries for a while before it's time to head back over to Aria. Then again, Harmony and Boyce aren't back yet so it's not like you'll be able to resume yet. Baritone is already looking impatient, no doubt wanting to just finish this tedious card game and be done with it. Soprano is for some reason making a point of not looking at Aria. Your partner in crime smiles at you as you approach.
'Did everything go well?' she asks you. You nod.
'Bit more trouble than I hoped it would be,' you answer, 'but I got them in the end.' Aria's smile confuses you somewhat. It's much warmer than you are used to, and it doesn't have the usual mischief behind it.
'That's wonderful,' she tells you, 'I know I can rely on you for all these important jobs! Can you hand them over now? I'd like to secure them before that bitch Harmony gets back!' She says the last phrase with her usual anger but it seems off, forced somehow. Perhaps she's just in an odd mood right now? It's difficult to put your finger on. How much do you really know Aria, after all? Anything could have happened while you had been gone, you wouldn't be surprised with this crowd.
You shake your head. Aria's certainly behaving differently from usual. And she did say that Harmony was a shapeshifter just like her, right? You wouldn't put it past the little bitch to do something like this to try and mess up your working relationship with Aria. You really should have thought about something like this beforehand. Why didn't Aria, a shapeshifter herself consider this? You'll have to make sure.
'Are you sure you want me to hand it over right now?' you ask, 'I don't really mind, I could really do with those tier 2 souls you promised me. I assume you brought them with you?' She hesitates for a moment, pursing her hands together.
'Tier 2,' she repeats, 'I don't believe I promised you anything quite that dear, now did I? But no worries, your payment is ready, as promised. Now then, stop playing around and hand them over, or we'll end up bothering everyone here!'
You shake your head. You are convinced now.
'Wow, Harmony,' you say, 'you're just as bad at acting as you are at inflicting pain. Who'd a figure?' Soprano's eyes widen with surprise and a smile appears on his face. 'Aria' on the other hand immediately climbs to her feet, face furious!
'How dare you!' she shouts, 'my acting is most excellent, thank you very much!' Her form shifts and changes and reveals…
Aria? But now she's looking at you with that familiar smile on her face.
'Surprise!' she taunts you, 'Well done! You passed! Now give me those panties already, pervert! I have your reward here, six grade 1 souls and fifty malice and that's only out of pity for your awful haggling skills!' You gape at her. This little vixen was testing you! Of all the manipulative little… You'd wring her neck if she couldn't snap you like a twig!
'Well, well,' Soprano comments, 'you were actually right? I really am impressed, hunie! Though, now that I think about it asking me to look the other way might have given the game away a touch!' Aria giggles as you make the exchange.
'That sounds like an excuse for not paying up,' she taunts him, 'no point complaining after you make a bet!' Soprano sighs and passes over a soul which Aria scoops up. At this point the real Harmony bursts through the room, Boyce behind her and looking very much the worse for wear. Perhaps she was out relieving some of her stress on her proxy? Whatever she was doing she's still glaring at you as though she wants nothing more than to pull out your guts and strangle you with them.
'Just as a word of warning,' Aria continues, her voice softening, becoming more serious, 'Harmony is actually a lot better than that. Don't let her performance this evening fool you. And don't let her hear you say she's bad at inflicting pain either. There are, restrictions in play here we agreed upon beforehand. They were set up by the owner, he doesn't like having to clean up dead bodies in his private rooms so…' She was interupted by Baritone calling for the resumption of the poker game. Six more rounds and it will be over. You give Megan a reassuring smile as Aria starts to deal out the cards once again. What 'fun' do these people have in store for you next?
'So,' Soprano ventures as Aria deals out the cards, 'I understand we don't tend to make much small talk, but I'm assuming you all heard about the goings on down south?' Baritone and Harmony both call, leaving Soprano to look back at his cards.
'I try not to,' Baritone rumbles, 'the southern demons live far too exciting lives, it's a never ending warzone down there.' Soprano also calls and Aria plays the next three cards. She has a pair of tens in her hand so she's doing well.
'Would be a lot nicer than my boring old territory,' Harmony comments, scowling at the cards on the table, 'nothing interesting ever happens there! Would have been nice if some upstart newcomer had fallen into my lap!' She eyes you without her usual anger. Instead her gaze is predatory. You think you preferred when she was angry with you. Soprano plays The Emperor, adding an extra card to his hand. Baritone quickly folds.
'Everyone wants to be part of Cerberus,' Aria comments, watching Harmony fold her cards, 'nobody realises it's actually a lot of work. The demons making up the group are constantly fighting the servants of the Church, squabbling with their fellow Cerberus members and fending off ambitious competition from outside. You either earn a fortune, or you fail. There's not much leeway.' She turns over the next card.
'How many members of Cerberus are there at the moment?' Harmony asks. Soprano raises.
'Five, I believe, dearie,' he answers, 'though I hear Razor is a single mistake away from getting booted out.' Aria calls and flips over the last card.
'Serves him right, 'she derides, 'he only got into Cerberus in the first place because of his older brother. Nepotism isn't how our world works and it was mindbendingly stupid to think that it would work there!' Harmony chuckles.
'Will be a lot of fun watching him fall from over here though!' she comments, 'you know if he survives being ousted he'll be heading this way, right? Imagine the chaos!'
Soprano glances once more at his hand. 'Indeed, Aria or Baritone will likely have to worry about him showing up and causing trouble. That goes for you too, hunie!' he glances over at you as he lays his cards down.
'Two pair, queens, fives,' he reports. Aria reveals her own hand.
'I'm not too concerned,' she answers, 'two pair, queens, tens. If he does come he'll be alone, no items, no support. I doubt he'll be stupid enough to make a fuss.'
'He was stupid enough to join Cerberus in the first place, while being woefully unprepared and ill equipped,' Baritone comments, 'you shouldn't be surprised by anything he does moving forwards.' Aria sighs.
'True,' she responds, 'I'll just have to hope he invades your territory then!' She winks at the familiar.
'How charitable of you…' he replies, dryly, 'choose your penalty already. I'd like to be out of here before the day ends.' Aria ponders, once again looking over at you for suggestions. You've already made good progress with Megan so you probably don't need to pander to her too much more, just make sure you don't give her anything too unpleasant. And it probably wouldn't be wise to antagonise Harmony any more. So then, what would be good?
You wrack your brain for a moment, only to conclude that you actually can't think of anything. You really aren't sure what would be good in this situation, there are too many variables to consider. Do you try to suggest something that might help Megan win, do you focus on trying to make sure Boyce loses? Do you try to pander to one of the players? You really cannot decide which is best here. Maybe you should have spoken to the other demons during the break, you might have been able to gauge their current mindset and see which direciton they were leaning, if they would actually tell you. Never mind.
You meet Aria's eyes and shake your head slightly. You can't think of anything so you'll just let her make up her mind. Aria nods and claps her head. An inflatable duck pond appears with a number of ducks in it.
'Simple challenge,' she declares, 'pick out three ducks with just your mouths. Points will go for speed, finese and the point value of the ducks in question. Try not to get wet! Okay?' She chuckles. You look at the duck pond, then back at Aria. You are rapidly coming to the conclusion that her tastes are actually rather childish. But you'd never say that to her face. Boyce looks at the pond dubiously, it won't be easy for him to get his head in there without splashing himself. Hell, he'll be one wrong move from tipping it over! Still, he might still manage.
The challenge was pretty amusing to watch, if nothing else. Megan clearly throws everything into speed, scooping her ducks up with reckless abandon splashing everyone in the process. Was she in that much of a hurry to end it? By start contrast Sam is a lot slower and more careful, picking his ducks as though terrified of getting himself wet, his face scrunched up in revulsion all the while and quickly pulling back every time Megan makes a move. Boyce, despite his size, manags to straddle a line in between the two, plucking out his ducks with surprising skill, though he can't match Sam's finese or Megan's speed.
Upon comparing the numbers on the bottom of the ducks it is determined that Boyce has the highest score, leading to an awkward three way tie as everyone manages to win in one category. Aria seems disappointed, perhaps she had hoped they'd get more wet?
'Gah,' Harmony complains, 'your penalties are always so dumb! Why can't you pick something halfway interesting?' Aria quickly rounds on her rival.
'Why are your penalites always so unimaginative?' she fires back, 'you never know how to do anything but hurt people!'
'Hellooooooo, I'm a demon!' Harmony protests, 'that's kind of the point! At least I don't hand out the sort of challenges a five year old might enjoy!'
'Says the brat who looks five years old but acts like an old fart when she thinks nobody's looking!' accuses Aria.
'You wanna go, bitch!' Harmony screeches. For a moment it looks like the two might actually fight.
'Enough,' declares Baritone, 'just pick your preferred proxy and let's move on.'
'Boyce totally won that game,' Harmony mutters, crossing her arms.
'You blind, you tiny little skank!' Aria hisses. They continue to bicker for a while…
You look over at Megan and give her a smile. She's soaked from the last challenge and you make a point of not noticing her bra showing through her drenched shirt. Only when she's looking the other way do you take a proper look. Out of concern, of course. You wouldn't want the girl to catch a cold. Not yet at least. You consider that you've been getting a lot more perverted after resolving to get yourself an adult body. Perhaps you should make sure an appropriate outlet is nearby just in case your lust suddenly surges after the transfer.
After Aria and Harmony have calmed down a bit the eighth round begins. In spite of Harmony burning her Empress card to redraw the cards in the centre she doesn't end up getting what she needs, leading to her complaining about the game being 'rigged.' Baritone folds early again and you can't help but wonder if isn't going to bother trying to win a hand for the rest of the game. Aria and Soprano fight it out again, only this time Soprano has the better hand, meaning he now chooses the penalty. You fight the urge to groan, assuming he's going to make you prance around in a skirt again.
Except this time he gives everyone an easel, a canvas and some paint and asks everyone to paint something they consider to be 'inspirational.' The fuck! What is that even supposed to mean? And you aren't a painter! This is going to suck! But you should at least try to paint something, you guess. At least you won't have to wear a skirt while painting it, though Soprano holds it out, perhaps hoping you'll put it on anyway.
You aren't a painter but you give it your best shot, painting a silly caricature of Lucifer punching Jesus right in the family jewels. It's stupid and crude but you are oddly proud of it. You seem to finish your picture first, giving you a sudden opportunity. You could quickly peek at one of the other proxies' pictures, it might allow you to learn something a bit more about them. While looking at Megan's painting might be the obvious choice, looking at Boyce's attempt might give you more of an inkling into the mentaliy behind Hamony's circle.
You sneak a quick peek at Boyce's picture. It's not great, more like a doodle really. You'd like to believe that yours is better than his clumsy effort. As for the picture itself, it's odd. Two small stick like figures lying together atop a bed. Everything else is being coloured black. One of them has tiny wings. Is that him and Harmony? But both figures are the same size, so likely not. You decide you don't actually want to know what this man is drawing so you quickly move back. Soprano chuckles at your picture, frowns at Boyce's and smiles at Megan's.
You aren't exactly sure which of you won that competition, but Aria finds your picture amusing so you let her keep it. Harmony and Boyce exchange an odd moment, and she ends up keeping his picture as well. Unsurprisngly, Baritone shows not the slightest interest in Megan's so Soprano keeps it. The two of you exchange a quick smile. She seems fairly pleased with herself. Hopefully that means she did well.
The next round goes by pretty quickly. Perhaps the players are starting to want to finish this, though you suppose that's been Baritone's position from the beginning. Aria and Harmony fight against each other to the end, with Harmony ending up winning with a pair of twos, the weakest hand in the game. Aria plays her Hierophant, allowing her to recover her lost chips this round but Harmony doesn't really care about that. She seems more interested in the penalty. Surprise surprise. She claps her hands together and a box appears on a table. A box with circular holes spaced out all around, holes just big enough to put your arm in.
'A nice simple one,' she giggles, 'put your hand in the box and take out the coloured balls. The more balls you can retrieve without getting bitten the better you score!' You look at the box dubiously. Bitten, she says. What kind of creature has she placed inside this box and is it poisonous? Stupid question, of course it is poisonous. But how dangerous would the poison be? Surely she wouldn't want anyone to die and pass out right now, it would deprive her of the chance to torture them more later! But you really doubt you'd be surprised by anything Hamony does at this point.
Megan looks at the box and shakes her head, likely coming to the same conclusion. Sam and Soprano share a glance, Soprano mutters something under his breath. A reassurance, perhaps? They took the fatal cards out of the deck earlier, right? So it can't be that bad, right? Still, you don't actually have to do it. You could refuse to put your hand in. You could also try and use Animal Whisperer on the creature in the box. Telling it not to bite anyone would piss Harmony off, so maybe just telling it not to bite you? Then again, you'll probably be fine regardless, maybe you should order it not to bite Megan instead?
The three of you exchange nervous glances. Well, Sam and Megan are nervous, you aren't really sure what is showing on your face. You resolve to decide who is going first via rock paper scissors. You manage to win, though you aren't sure if that's a good thing or not. Well you've decided to just play the game normally so you stick your hand in carefully and pull out a ball. No issues so far. Sam goes next, looking grim.
'It's not going to be anything fatal,' he declares, though you aren't sure if he knows for sure or if he's just trying to convince himself. Slowly and tentatively he puts his hand in, withdrawing it ball in hand. Nothing yet. Megan is up next, she's clearly frightened. If she shakes that much she's going to aggravate whatever is inside. You try to warn her with your eyes but she's not paying attention. Still trembling she puts her hand in and almost immediately shrieks, pulling it back out and dancing away. Her luck is about as good as yours it would seem.
You stick your hand in again, feeling around for a ball, but also watching Megan. She doesn't look poisoned, though most poisons don't actually take effect so soon. Or at least you assume. You feel a pressure on your arm. Was that a bite? You don't actually know. Shit, you barely felt anything at all. No way you could have reacted to that, the pain didn't even register. You still aren't sure if you've been bitten. Your nulled sense of pain is a double edged sword after all. You withdraw your hand, examining your skin. Is that a bite mark? You aren't sure. You try to compare your arm to Megan's. If the baby will just stand still for a second so you can check…
Yup, your bite marks are the same. Impressive, you didn't feel a thing before it bit you. You can't help but wonder what creature Harmony put in there. Not that it matters right now. You stop to consider. You don't feel poisoned. Maybe that means you are fine? Or maybe you'll keel over later instead. Little point in worrying about it, you doubt Harmony will give you an antidote if you are poisoned. Best to just move on.
Sam manages to retrieve a third ball without being bitten so it looks like he won this round. You can't help but notice him exchange a smug smile with Harmony. The fuck? Are those two in cahoots somehow? Smarmy motherfucker! Maybe you should have made it bite him! Or maybe you are reading too much into that one exchange. Never mind, only three rounds left and it's finally over.
Soprano kicks this next round off by playing the Fortune card. This now means that instead of the usual rules everyone draws five cards and then reveals after a single round of betting. Baritone ends up with the highest pair. Perhaps to demonstrate exactly how much he doesn't care, he then uses his High Priestess to turn all his cards into cups, giving him a flush. So now he's winning even more? That seems rather broken. Didn't Kairos think about that exploit before? Why would anyone play Fortune then if you could just counter with the Priestess. Stupid game…
Baritone seems to care about his penalty as much as he does about his victory. His familiar's many eyes fix each of you with disinterested stares.
'Try to have fun,' he comments, dryly. Then all of a sudden your perspective shifts abruptly. When before you were standing behind and to the left of Aria, you are now in front of her, watching her and yourself across the table. Harmony is now right in front of you, eyeing you with excitement as she kicks her little legs in the air. You blink, looking down at your massive frame. Are you in Boyce's body now? Trippy. A noise draws your attention. Sam has cried out and is now pawing at his body with obvious alarm. Your body is scowling over at Sam, arms crossed, while Megan stares at you sharply. It would appear that all the proxies have swapped bodies, Megan included.
Try to have fun? The hell are you supposed to do that? Then a motion draws your attention. Harmony's expression is couquetish and smouldering. She's leaning back against the table, lifting up her tiny hips as though offering herself to you. The fuck is this crazy bitch doing? Does she even know who is in this body now, or does she not care? She's fucking with you, there's no way she actually thinks you are going to do anything to her here and now with everyone else around. Right? This is so messed up in all kinds of ways! What the hell are you supposed to do?
You look down at the tiny demon offering herself to you. Or at least 'pretending' to offer herself to you. For all you know she is completely up for anything you might be prepared to do to her, even with everyone else around you. If Boyce's drawing can be interpreted in that way then it wouldn't be anything she hasn't done with him already. And this might actually be the only chance you have to get some action before you move bodies.
But isn't there a particular saying, 'don't stick your dick in crazy?' And Harmony is most definitely that. And there's no guarantee she isn't just messing with you right now. Maybe she doesn't know it's you, but she should know it isn't Boyce. You can't trust her and even if you could you have to consider what the others would think. How would Aria in particular react to that? She and Harmony are bitter rivals after all. It's probaby not worth it. You could just leave her hanging, but perhaps flat out ignoring her would piss her off more than you would like. Is there a way to handle this situation diplomatically?
Maybe you should just play dumb. You cock your head as you look at the little demon before you, allowing confusion to cross your face. You are just a kid, you don't know anything about sex. And you are the big one now so you should act the part, right? You reach down and lift Harmony up into the air, then lower her. Then you lift her up again. She seems surprised at first, not quite sure how to react to this. But then she giggles.
'Higher, Daddy, higher,' she cries, 'I wanna go higher!' Sly little minx, she's playing along! Looks like Aria is right, she's a lot more slippery than she's let on so far. Does she hate this treatment, love it or is she indifferent? You can't tell, she has so many faces it's hard to know which is her real one. Maybe even she's forgotten what her real personality should be. Well you can't exactly stop now, you keep up the charade for a bit longer.
'Piggyback,' she cries, 'I want a piggyback, Daddy!' You reluctantly agree, placing her over your shoulders so she's practically wrapping her whole body around your head. You feel a pressure on your neck. Is she… yes, she's grinding herself against the back of your head. You feel a small wet patch at the base of your neck. Is the little freak getting off on this? Or is she just letting you believe that she is? Regardless, you aren't sure if you've diffused the situation with Harmony or made it worse. The crazy bitch is just too hard to read. The only conclusion you reach from these interactions is the same one you had to start with. You should stay as far away from this lunatic as possible.
Your brief experience in Boyce's body ends as abruptly as it began and you are suddenly back in your own body, watching an irritable looking Sam pick himself up off the floor. You can only assume Megan fell over at some point in his body. Soprano still seems satisfied by whatever performance he likely had her put on for him. Now that you think about it, hasn't his whole thing been about trying to take boys and 'transform' them into girls? Having a girl in a boy's body should be a dream come true for him, right? So why doesn't he do that to all of his 'girls?' Perhaps it would be a more personal question than your relationship with Soprano would allow right now.
Aria is resuming her seat, you hadn't even noticed her leave it while you had been 'playing' with Harmony. Is she angry with you for that, or is she satisfied she got to watch the brat act like an actual brat? She's not looking in your direction so it's difficult to say. If she is unhappy you can reassure yourself that actually trying to fuck Harmony would have provoked a much worse reaction, so you think you should be relatively okay as far as Aria is concerned. Megan just seems happy to be back in her own body, being in Sam likely wasn't comfortable for her. Who the hell knows what Soprano did to the trap to make Sam the way he is today. And that's not counting the broken fingers he's still cradling.
Without any way of knowing how that last round could possibly be scored you simply return your attention to the penultimate game as it begins. Harmony seems to have decided to remain on Boyce's shoulders and is having him turn the cards for her. You try to avoid the mischevious look she's giving you. Now it seems she's moved on from being angry with you and is trying to drive a wedge between you and Aria instead.
You don't think she'd fall for Harmony's schemes, but you never know, she certainly does tend to get a lot more heated with the loli than you are used to. You can imagine why. Harmony probably manipulated the fuck out of her some time in the past. And Aria hasn't forgiven her for it. Considering their personalities that would be your guess, at least.
The penultimate game starts getting interesting after the flop. Harmony uses her last Major, The World to force everyone to discard their hands, draw five new cards and pick a new hand out of them. Considering the ace in the middle there are probably a few aces in people's hands now. Baritone folds again, Soprano soon after. Aria and Harmony continue playing for a while and when the hands are revealed Harmony has the better hand.
The little demon's cry of triumph is cut short, however, as Aria plays her final Major card. Judgement, apparently lets Aria burn her own chips in order to burn the same number of chips belonging to her opponent. As Aria currently has more chips than Harmony, she burns enough chips to eliminate her rival from the game entirely. Harmony doesn't take this well, beating her little fists against the side of Boyce's face and kicking her legs on his shoulders over and over again. No doubt Aria has been saving that bullshit card just for this moment. With Harmony removed from the game Boyce won't need to take any more penalties, so this one will just be Sam and Megan.
Considering it's the penultimate penalty of the game maybe going a little bit wild would be acceptable. You've already swapped bodies so you don't feel as though there can be much left as extreme as that. So you make the suggestion to Aria. Why not indulge herself? Make them both younger. Mind as well as body, hopefully this will muddle Megan's head so she doesn't recognise that you conspired with one of the demons to reduce her to a child. Of course, this is assuming what you are suggesting can actually be done.
Aria looks over at Baritone. Is she asking for permission? The familiar just wiggles it's eyestalks at her. Aria seems to take that as permission for she nods and frowns in concentration and Sam and Megan soon shrink down until they are roughly the same size and age as you are.
Sam immediately bursts into tears, clearly he had a much different personality when he was younger. Megan isn't taking it particularly well either, starting around at the room with big, scared eyes. Aria doesn't waste much time and quickly heads over to her, scooping little Megan up into her arms and giving her a hug.
You can't help but discreetly shake your head. This was your suggestion, after all but it's become less of a penalty and simply Aria indulging herself. Though you could claim that all of the penalties imposed thus far have been self indulgent. Though this one seems to have less of a purpose otherwise. Every other penalty up until this point had the proxies do something or endure something. Could you claim that this is a test to see how they 'endure' being turned into children?
'Awww,' Aria complains, using her fire to keep child Megan calm, 'now I just want to keep her!' She looks back at Baritone again.
'No can do,' he replies, 'I did say I'd put her back where I found her.' Harmony snorts.
'And we all know that demons keep their word no matter what,' she ridicules him. The creature's many eyed gaze fixes on the little demon and she's suddenly not so derisive, looking away sulkily. Aria also pouts.
'But she's such a cutie,' she continues, 'at least let me keep her like this!' You try to resist the urge to groan. You really don't need any more little girls in your life. Though you perhaps wouldn't disaprove of returning her to normal physically while leaving her younger mind as is. This is assuming of course that changes in this place can even be permanent. You aren't sure exactly what magic is in place to allow all of this to occur but you have no idea if it will permit changes implemented here to persist beyond the game. It's probably best to restore her to normal anyway, that way she'll be able to look after herself better.
Soprano has taken to comforting the child Sam which he is surprisingly good at. Odd, considering how much young adult Sam seems to dislike him. Maybe their relationship is more complicated then you can assume. Regardless it isn't long before Aria is forced to return the sleepy child Megan to her spot besides Baritone and the effect wears off, restoring both of them to normal. Both of them are confused, not really sure what just happened to them. Hopefully Megan's confusion will prevent her from remembering your involvement in that little incident. Aria certainly enjoyed it and that's really the main thing.
It's now time for the final game. Or at least it should be. Harmony is already out, so you can understand her lack of enthusiasm, but neither Aria nor Soprano move to deal or even shuffle the cards.
'Well?' Aria asks, gesturing to Baritone's final Major card, 'you're going to play it, right?' Soprano flips over his own card.
'Mine's Justice,' he states, 'sorry sweeties, looks like Bari has it again.'
'Someone will need to remind me how he manages to have it everytime!' Harmony pouts, 'I'm sure that isn't rigged in anyway!'
'It doesn't matter,' Baritone replies, 'none of this matters. Nothing…matters. We are all simply cogs turning in the wheel of fate.' Aria groans.
'Just play the dame card already!' she demands, 'you are the one who wanted this over yesterday! Nobody wants to listen to your miserable monologues.'
'Very well,' Baritone replies, turning over the final card.
'The Devil rules all,' he declares, 'by His wish, I end this farcical game. Soprano has the most chips left and thus is the winner.' Harmony seethes at this, Aria merely chuckles. Sacrificing her own chips might have blown Harmony out of the water but it also cost her the victory. Though you don't think Aria is all that bothered about that. Baritone continues:
'We will now declare the recipients of our rewards…'
Watching a plan come to fruition is a wonderful thing. Aria and Soprano both present Megan with their prizes. She may not have been the best at the challenges she was presented with but she was likely the most entertaining. She takes the two wrapped packages with great trepidation, her expression giving away that she doesn't really want them or anything to do with the demons. Hopefully she isn't foolish enough to throw them away. So long as your efforts pay off and she seeks you out you'll have both of those prizes for yourself.
Harmony presents Sam with her present, no real surprises there. Maybe she would have given a prize to Megan as well if she wasn't so clearly against you that she'd likely made a deal with Sam behind your back. Not that you really know what that deal could actually be. Finally Baritone presents you with his reward. You give the many eyed creature your thanks. By way of a response it looks straight through you as though seeing everything. In a single moment all your petty scheming and attempted manipulations over the course of the evening seem meaningless. Baritone almost certainly knows exactly what you intend. Then the moment is over and it's moving away from you.
You decide not to unwrap your reward in front of everyone around you, just in case they take a fancy to it. Instead you store it quickly away inside your bracelet. You can examine it later once you are alone. As far as you can remember this is the part of the evening when the demons speak to their master, The Conductor. You can either hang around and wait to head back with Aria or you could ask if Soprano can warp you back to his place immediately, so you can get back home faster. Either way you should probably check in on Megan one last time and try to work your magic on her before she leaves.
Having decided to wait for Aria to finish her business you head for Megan once more. With the games finally over she's retreated to her favourite corner, ignored by everyone. Perfect.
'Well, it's over,' you say, trying to sound relieved, 'you feeling better now?' She peers up at you over her glasses.
'I…' she tries, 'I don't know. I'm still struggling to believe that all of this is even real! I keep expecting to wake up in my bed and find out this was all a terrible nightmare! That thing said it would put me back, but how can I know that for sure?! Even if it does put me back, what do I have left to go back to?' You have to be careful here. Seeking shelter at your house needs to be her idea.
'Sorry to hear that, Big Sis,' you say, 'I had another Big Sis before, but she moved out a while ago. So it gets a bit lonely in the house. But you can come visit us whenever you want. Here, I'll write the address down for you.' You scrawl her a quick note and hand it to her.
'Come visit whenever you like,' you tell her, 'mum's always happy to have people round.' You give her your best smile and push in with the Suggestion.
'I don't have anywhere else to go, I can only hope he'll let me stay with him for a few days.' She blinks as your power works its way into her mind.
'Zach,' she says, her tone odd, 'you seem oddly calm about all this.' Crap, that's a dangerous thing to say! Did you miscalculate?
'Hmm,' you say, pretending to think it over, 'maybe I'm like you, if it doesn't feel real then it isn't all that scary, right?' You give Megan a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
'Big sis always said that you can alwayes get through anything if you keep smiling. Maybe you should try that, Big sis!' You give her a big childish grin. Dejectedly, wretchedly, wearily, she returns your smile and it's at this point that you know you have her. Some part of her likely thinks that she should doubt you, that your story doesn't really line up with what she's seen that your relationship with the others doesn't really mesh with what you told her. But none of that really matters. She wants so desperately to believe that she isn't completely alone that she'll grasp at this life raft, no matter how dubious it might seem.
And this hope will be her undoing, the most delicious bait at the centre of your trap. So long as she can find he way and doesn't fell victim to some other predator, human or otherwise, she'll walk right into your clutches, arms raised. She might even end up thanking you, it will likely depend on what you decide to do with her. For now though, you give her a wave and move away. Not much left to do now but wait.
You return to the main casino lobby, might as well chat with the bunnygirl again while you are waiting. You don't really find out anything more, though you can still enjoy watching her breasts bounce as she moves around. More than likely she's doing it on purpose, though probably not for your benefit.
You don't know how long it takes before Aria, Soprano and Sam emerge from the VIP area and approach you. Aria has shifted back into the form she had when she first arrived here, smartly dressed and with a good figure, though not as good as her 'big sister' form. The four of you make your way out of the building and back to the same alleyway where you return to the Myskin Theatre. You give Soprano your thanks and say your goodbyes, leaving with Aria. With everyone else now gone Aria seems to relax a fair amount, humming to herself as you make your way down the road towards the bus stop.
'It's funny,' she says, slowing in her stride and spinning round to face you, now moving backwards in front of you, 'I've lost track of the number of those stupid meetings I've gone to with those stupid jerks. So many games, so many different proxies, so many penalties. But I don't think I've enjoyed myself as much as I have today. I'm not really sure why.' She stops abruptly and you have to stop as well or risk walking into her.
'A lot of things have changed since you showed up,' she continues, 'things have gotten a lot more interesting, more exciting! And even though you aren't very strong you have something different, it's difficult to explain. We'll be busy soon, what with our battle against those sanctimonious Church bastards, so I thought I'd take the moment to say thanks. I'm glad you showed up in my territory.'
You gape at her for a moment. Is this another test? No, unless Harmony is doing a really good job this is Aria before you. The same chick who set you up to have a run in with the Church in the hope that she could force you to beg her for help. The same chick who tried to mess with your mother for similar reasons. It seems as though you've impressed her tonight. She presses a hand against her side.
'But don't think this changes anything,' she teases, 'I'm still going to play around with you like one of my dolls! And one of these days your adorable sister will be part of my collection! But for now, you're alright.' She tosses something in your direction and you catch it. You recognise it.
'It's the grade 3 soul I won off of Soprano earlier,' she tells you. 'I'll let you keep it. It isn't worth all that much to me, and you did sort of earn it. Think of it like an extra reward for all your hard work this evening! I'll be looking forward to next month, little bro!' She winks at you. Fuck, she's serious isn't she. You aren't sure you can bring yourself to do that all again next month…
Having obtained a grade 3 soul you are now able to upgrade your Body to Tier 2. This will give you a small boost to your physical capabilities as well as unlock Tier 2 Body abilities. Or of course you could choose to sell it instead for not an insubstantial sum
Body is now Tier 2. Tier 2 abilities unlocked. Soul Transfer and Transferred Enhancement (level 2) now unlocked. Small boost to physical abilities obtained.
You stick with Aria up until you arrive at your house where you part ways. Once inside you can finally relax. The entire affair has been exhausting. It's certainly late, Lucy should already be in bed by now. You can make yourself a quick dinner but otherwise you might end up hungy. Then again you could just make Elisa do it, assuming she's still up. It's pretty much her job anyway. But then you'd have to explain her unique wardobe choice to Megan when she hopefully shows up. So for now you just try to process all that happend.
You didn't learn much more about Soprano than you already know and rather bizarrely he seems almost normal when placed alongside the others. Baritone is hard to get a read on, especially considering he didn't even show up himself. Though if his personality is really as demonstrated he shouldn't be any issues. So long as you don't bother him you should be fine. Harmony is the bigger issue, you really don't know what she could be thinking at any point of time. She was mostly angry, though you did see various other attitudes during the later half of the evening.
Is there any way you can prepare for any action the little psycho might take against you? It will certainly be difficult. A shapeshifter could come at you at any time and in any way. The only way you can think to reliably deal with her would be to play aggressively and take the fight to her. Of course, that isn't an option for you right now. But she may well need to be your first real target once you have gathered up enough strength. Until then there's not much you can do but hope that the threat of your Mistress will prevent Harmony from doing anything stupid.
In a way, Aria is your biggest concern right now. The two of you have spent quite a long time together recently and that might need to stop. You aren't sure exactly what your relationship with her is now, but it is likely teetering on the edge of becoming something akin to actual friendship. And that alarms you somewhat. The moment you start considering Aria to be a 'friend' your attitude towards her will shift. You'll become less likely to take actions against her, less likely to continue to work on manipulating or influencing her.
That's not a risk you can really afford to take. One day she may well turn on you and your hesitant attitude may well prevent you from taking the necessary actions to stop it. Even if she doesn't actually want to move against you herself, she may not get a choice. She's just like you, after all. Her soul is owned by her Master, just as yours is. Her boss, The Conductor is someone who has an enmity with your boss. It's unlikely that they'll mend their relationship, so he'll certainly be an enemy in the future.
And when he targets you he'll use his servants to do it. Aria, being the closest to you, in more ways than one, will be the first he turns to. As such you'll need as much leverage over her before that happens, even if you end up reaching a point where you'd rather not. Yes, you'll need to usurp her even if you end up doing that for her own good. You can have whatever relationship with her that you want, once she's fully yours.
A tentative sounding knock on your door alerts you. Is that her, is she here? You take a quick peek through the keyhold. Nervous, worried, timid Megan stands shivering outside your doorway, clutching two cloth bags to her chest as though they're all she owns in the world. You open the door for her.
'Sis?' you ask, 'you came to visit, already?' Megan's eyes dart fearfully back and forth as she stammers.
'I… er… you said I could, whenever, right?' she manages, 'could I… maybe… now?' She hangs her head in shame, tears leaking from her eyes. 'I…really… don't…' she trails off. You fight back the urge to grin in triumph. You've got her! And perhaps more importantly you have those prizes in her hands. Next you need to decide what to do with her.
You make a point of not looking at the bundles in her arms as you lead her inside and show her to the kitchen. She almost collapses into a chair, still sobbing, head lowered. You decide to make the two of you something to eat while you work on your approach. You don't really have enough Mana to do anything tonight, perhaps you could Invade her Dreams after she falls asleep. You won't be able to make her sleep though. Still you could have her sleep first and then work on her in the morning…
A motion behind you causes you to turn, just in time to see the knife lunging towards you. You quickly lift your arm and the blade rams home. Still, the force of the attack has caught you off guard and you fall backwards, landing awkwardly. Before you've had a chance to recover she's on top of you.
'Nice reflexes,' she compliments you as she pulls the knife back out. She's a lot stronger than she looks, straddling your lap with the weapon raised. Shit, there really isn't much you can do here.
'Harmony?' You manage, 'what are you…' the question sounds stupid even as you voice it. Why even bother asking her. 'Megan' simply grins, manically.
'Well you are a clever little man, aren't you?' she taunts, 'but not clever enough now, are you? You thought you were such a big man this evening with your little schemes and plans! You didn't think we'd work it out? Or maybe you just didn't think we'd care! You could have just let that poor girl go back to whatever fractured life she had left! Maybe she would have been miserable, maybe it would have been difficult. But at least she'd still be alive! But you chose to drag her into this, and now I've got her soul, a couple of nice items courtesy of my colleagues and a juicy stash of malice! I took your form when I killed her, you should have seen the look on her face! Priceless!'
You glare up at her, not even scared any more, if she's going to kill you she'll kill you. But you are angry that she could outmanoeuvre you so easily. And she is right, you were relying on none of them caring. Baritone certainly didn't care, so you assumed no one else would. Foolish, as it turns out. These rewards aren't trivial things, of course the other demons would be interested in them. And thanks to you Harmony received two of them practically gift wrapped just for her. And she got the added bonus of fucking over everything you've been trying to do all night! Damn this little bitch! She laughs at your expression, grinding herself against your body with excitement.
'That's right!' she shrieks, 'that's the expression I wanted to see! Wonderful! I just love you cocky little shithead newbies! You are all so ambitious and devious and sure about how smart and powerful you are! None of you know your place at all! And I wouldn't have it any other way!' She lowers her face until she's almost nose to nose with you, the knife finding your throat.
'But you,' she breathes, the air from her mouth assailing your face, 'you are even more interesting! The way you held me with those big strong hands of yours, it really got me going! It's been a long time since anyone's dared treat me like that!' She's threatening you with the knife in one hand, while her other hand is reaching under her skirt even as she presses her crotch against your chest. The noise of her fingers squelching as she plays with her folds is visible even in this situation.
'Now I can't decide what to do!' she yells, 'do I want to fuck your brains out, make you into my own personal dildo like the others? Or do I just stick you like a pig and make you watch your own guts fall out? I really just don't know!' She's really screaming now, you are surprised she hasn't alerted your family. Though it's probably good that they don't come. They'd just end up dying as well. And that would be counter productive. All of a sudden Harmony seems to calm herself, her face returning to something resembling normality. At least whatever is normal for this little freak.
'But I can't do either of those things,' she pants, 'now can I? You're too small to get it up right now and if I kill you that fucking butch gorilla bitch will wring my neck! So I guess I'll have to wait.' She gets up off of you and moves away.
'It would be a waste to end things like this, anyway,' she concludes, 'bullying weaklings gets old quickly. A good fuck is always better after a good fight! So you'd better fight well! And get yourself a proper body while you're at it!' Still in Megan's form she smiles at you and blows you a kiss.
'Bye bye Big Bro,' she says, her voice sickeningly sweet, 'until next time!' And with that she's gone, leaving you bleeding on the kitchen floor. Mother fucker…
You lie where you are, simply grateful to still be in one piece. You dodged a bullet, though just barely. Would she have actually killed you if you hadn't 'played' with her back then? Or is that what made her come after you in the first place? You really don't know. A stray thought reaches you, wondering how much malice you just earned the little bitch. She really knew just how to mess with you. You don't even care that she tricked you into letting her in, not particularly concerned about your own near death experience. The pain in your arm is negligible, but the lose of Megan and the items she was going to deliver to you, that hurts far more than any physical pain.
It's incredible how complete your failure is, all your plans over the course of the evening laid to ruins in a moment leaving you feel like a complete fool, impotent and incompetant. It's really not a good feeling. Not at all. Still no sign of Lucy or Elisa. Did she do something to them? You climb to your feet, best check on them. Nope, they are both fine, perhaps Harmony used the same spell to keep them asleep that Aria used the night you first met. You'd like to collapse into bed along with them but you resist for now. You wouldn't be able to sleep anyway.
So instead you drift back downstairs, feeling more helpless than you have for a while. Is there even any point in anything you are doing? How stupid have you been to think you could play their game and come out on top? Is it really hopeless? Will you end up spending the rest of your life as a lapdog and plaything of the demons? Will they end up passing you around like a fun little toy? Fuck… is there really nothing you can do to avoid it? Your listless eyes fall upon an object on a table. Ah, right. It's the reward Baritone gave you. Almost as though you are running on autopilot you unwrap it.
A single, ornate mirror sits before you. The frame is silver, the glass a dark black, reflecting your own lost face back at you. Then all of a sudden you see something else behind the darkness. A single eye.
'Greetings,' Baritone's voice speaks inside your mind, 'we didn't really get a chance to speak before.' So then this mirror is some sort of communication device?
'Correct,' his voice continues, 'allow me to explain. This mirror will allow you to communicate with anyone you have a connection to. The stronger your connection, the stronger the link. I assume you know what I mean when I refer to 'connection', right?' You nod, though you aren't sure if he can see you.
'Very good,' he continues, 'just as an aside, the only reason I can communicate with you now is because I left a tiny fraction of my soul on the mirror. Something I will be removing after this conversation is over. The only other thing I should say to you now is this. You are playing a dangerous game. I understood this the moment I noticed the small discrepancy in Aria's soul. Something she hasn't actually noticed herself. But I'll not interfere. Do as you like, so long as you don't interfere in my affairs we need not clash. That is all. I look forward to watching you attempt to ascend to the peak of this world.' With that the conncetion cuts off and his presence retreats.
Wow, so he noticed your meddling in Aria's head. Ludicrous, what have you even been doing? These people are ridiculous, you don't stand a chance against them. Then you hear a knock on the door. Small and tentative. Really, could it be?
Again you peer through the spy hole. And there she is. Nervous, worried, timid Megan stands shivering outside your doorway, clutching two cloth bags to her chest as though they're all she owns in the world. It's as though you've gone back in time, reliving the same moment all over again. Could it be possible? She wouldn't… would she? Harmony wouldn't do it again, would she? You open the door.
'I, um…er…' she says, her eyes flitting about. Only to notice your injury. She gasps.
'Oh my! You're bleeding! Are you okay?' She starts to panic, rushing past you trying to find a first aid kit, some bandages, anything. You close the door behind her, expecting at any moment for her to stab you again, for her to reveal that she's come back to rub it in all over again. You wouldn't put it past her, you don't think you could put anything past Harmony at this point. You are going to have to resolve this, you'll end up with some form of PTSD otherwise. You'll spend the rest of your life wondering if everyone you meet from now on is actually her.
You allow Megan to lead you back into the kitchen. She's tending to your injury as best she can but you still don't even know if she's actually real. How could you tell? Try to use a power on her? Just attack her, see how she reacts? You don't know, a part of you has stopped caring entirely. Shit, was your will this weak all along? Are you really going to just give up after a single set back. She had you, but she let you go, like a fisherman watching his helpless catch wriggle on the hook, only throw it back into the water. Because it isn't even worth keeping. That fucking BITCH!
How dare she do this to you! Once you get your hands on her you won't let her suffering end quickly! You'll rip her into pieces, put her back together and rip her apart again! You'll make her beg for the mercy of oblivion once you are finished, making what your boss put you through look like paradise in comparison!
You shake your head. Wrath was actually useful for once. You can't stop here. You have to press on. But right now you are too tired. You'll need to rest, you can't think clearly right now. But first, this Megan. Real or not you'll need to decide how to deal with her
You try to gather your thoughts, fighting through the exhaustion you glance back at the mirror. Baritone said it worked via connections right? The only meaningful connections he could mean would be the ones you form with your minions. So it should allow you to communicate at a distance with your subordinates. Helpful, particularly if you will soon be busy elsewhere. As for its use right now, well you should have a small connection with Megan, right? You did use your power on her to convince her to be here, after all.
You focus on the mirror, seeking her out with your mind and soul. The faintest of images appears before your eyes. Megan is currently fussing around trying to work out where everthing is in this place. All of a sudden she stops with a confused look on her face. Can she sense your attempt to speak to her? Does that mean she is in fact who she appears? You could try to speak to her via the mirror, but if she is real it's just likely to tip her off that something is wrong. You don't have the energy to deal with her right now so you put the mirror away.
You are fairly sure that Harmony was just fucking with you, but you'll never be able to know for sure. Not unless you can examine Megan's mind and body thoroughly. And that isn't something you can do right now. So you'll just hope that she is as she seems to be and move on. Time for bed. You push past Megan's concern, brushing off her attempt to call a doctor or get you to hospital. You can heal an injury like this yourself it isn't a problem. A Suggestion not to worry about it seems to work fine. You lead her up to Lucy's room, then head straight to your own. You are asleep the moment your head hits the pillow.