You open your eyes, expecting a new morning clutched between your family. But instead you are in your stupid car bed. You really hate this thing. A face peers down at you.
'Wow,' she says, by way of a greeting, 'you sure had a lot of excitement last night!' You groan, looks like you are still asleep. The Diary has summoned you in your dreams.
'I wanted to check on you,' she explains, 'your ego took quite a hit last night, after all! As the imbodiment of the Demon Lord's will it is my duty to help you make it through this mess! Feel free to use my services as best you can!'
'Hit to my ego, eh?' you say sardonically. 'You mean when I was completely outplayed? Humiliated? Saved only by the mercy of my enemy? Because she isn't finished toying with me yet? She could snuff me out at any moment and there isn't anything I can do about it! How am I supposed to just shrug my shoulders and move on after that?' The Diary shrugs her little shoulders.
'Well, nobody said this would be easy,' she commented, 'and you aren't used to anything being simple, right? No point in worrying about things you can't control. You cannot die and so long as you can keep a hold of The Diary you'll be able to continue on, no matter how dire your situation becomes. Just in case, I'll add a new unlockable ability in the Inhouse Services, no need for thanks!'
Homing Diary now available to purchase in the Inhouse Services. Unlock this and The Diary will always find its way back to you regardless of how you end up separated from it!
'And, just because I feel bad for you I'll give you a bit of advice for free,' she continues, 'I'll say that it's probably a good idea to visit The Merchant sometime soon. He's done some digging and can offer you a good opportunity. I guarantee you'll find it lucrative! Want any more advice, you know what you'll have to do!'
'Time for your Weekly Challenges!' The Diary continues, 'well technically it was yesterday, but starting on Monday makes more sense anyway, right? I'll let you pick two today, okay?' She produces the Tarot cards agan. You can't help but frown at the damn things, reminded about last night. Stupid Demon Lord and his Tarot cards. This time she holds out six cards, allowing you to choose two.
Homing Diary Purchased. The Diary will now find its way to you after being separated by force or through your death
You can't even bring yourself to pay attention to The Diary's story today. It's probably not important anyway. Just more nonsense about the Demon Lord doing stupid shit. You only pick out one tidbit possibly worth paying attention to. Apparently, using too many Suggestions and/or Charms on the same person can do serious damage to their mental state. Kairos found this out after using these abilities too much on his landlady's daughter, rendering her entirely incapable of living without his attentions for more than a few hours before having violent reactions. Though you doubt you'll be spamming your abilities like a complete fool, it might be worth bearing in mind.
If there is any day you'd want to stay in bed for the morning, so far it's this one. But you can't. You have some important decisions to make today. And not just in relation to the girl now staying at your place. She'll need some work to make sure she doesn't go anywhere, assuming you actually plan to keep her. Your instinct is telling you that it would be a waste not to, assuming Harmony hasn't done anything to Megan that would cause you problems later. Perhaps you should have asked The Diary last night if Megan has been tampered with in some way. Too late now, though.
So then, what are your priorities? The most important decision by far will be which body you intend to move into, hopefully by the end of the week. Making this decision today will be important as it will likely determine what steps you'll need to take in preparation for your move. It won't be worth anything to have a target decided upon without the ability to actually carry the possession out. Deciding upon who to possess is just part of the issue.
You'll also need to decide what to do with your current body, and with your current circle of subordinates. It would certainly be a waste to just abandon everything when you leave. If you want to make the most of your existing assets you'll need to leave 'Zach' behind to manage things for you. Failing that you need someone else to take on Zach's mantle. At present only Lucy and Cassie will remain loyal to you after your change. Possibly Elisa as well if you can establish in her mind that your new host is actually the Master her maid self wishes to serve. But again, you'll need to know who it is before you finish working on her.
If you do want 'Zach' to remain functional without you it will mean putting another soul into his body to allow him to continue on. This will require Soul Transfer as well as a free soul to actually implant. This means you'll need at least 500 Malice before the end of the week, as well as an actual willing soul, or a way to extract one you already have. The Merchant and The Diary will likely be you best bets for both of these issues. If all else fails you can move Lucy into Zach's body, though it does feel like something of a waste. Perhaps if you finish Maria quickly enough she could be the new Zach.
You don't need to worry about your Diary making it's way to your new body, but you'll still need to somehow transfer your bracelet with all your items to your new body. Speaking of which you have the new mirror you were given by Baritone last night, as well as two more. Best to check them now.
Aria's gift is, unsurprisingly, a doll. According to the instructions if someone's gaze meets the doll a portion of their soul will be stolen, allowing the owner of the doll to manipulate that person's body against their will. While powerful, this item has it's disadvantages. Firstly it can only control one person at a time. Secondly the method of activation is awkward and could be hard to pull off. Finally the victim remains completely aware of what is happening to them, meaning caution has to be made to prevent your manipulations from being exposed. Still, it's a useful way to gain control of someone quickly.
Soprano's reward is decidedly less useful. A golden trophy seemingly modelled after Soprano himself - yuck - it seems to have no real power other than a small charm upon it making you feel better about yourself when looking upon it. Not really useful, though you imagine it would be an item he'd use a lot in his own theatre to subtly influence his staff into trying to perform their best for him. Without any clear use this item is probably better off sold. The doll has its uses, but might be a bit too tricky to utilise, in which case selling it to The Merchant is also an option.
While on this subject you are sorely tempted to sell the Dog Whistle you have as well. Useful only situationally, it isn't something you really want to rely on, considering how ineffective it proved to be before. You have your own ways to insure loyalty and you'll never be as good at securing the loyalty of Ina's dogs as she is. So perhaps it isn't even worth trying. You'll do your best to solidify your hold over the two you already have, but you don't really want to have to rely on the Whistle during your next confrontation with Ina.
In addition to your preparation for your 'move,' you also have a number of projects you want to finish. Ami, Ms Erikson, Venus, Elisa, you'd like to conquer all four of these before the end of the week. Cassie as well, though that should hopefully happen without your direct interferance. Megan will need to be added to this list as well, if only to make sure she doesn't cause any problems. And of course you will be passively corrupting Maria, though you could try to speed that up, if you want to make use of her for something.
The Little Angels are probably your largest untapped resource so far. After expending so much effort aquiring them it would be a waste not to do anything with them at all. Not only would they be helpful for your Providence rituals, you could also use them for information gathering and for malice. You'll need to dedicate some time to fully solidifiying their loyalty, possibly assigning a second in command in the form of Roger or Erikson to keep things running smoothly.
And then there's the matter of your 'allies' Usa, Aria and Soprano. If you move to a new body too far away it might be more difficult to continue your training or work at the theatre. You should at least give them all a heads up and see if any plans can be made to allow you to make use of your allies moving forwards. Soprano also said at some point he'll be 'disappearing' Gary to make 'her' a permanent member of the troupe. You don't believe your attendance is mandatory, but it would likely be lucrative.
Finally you need to consider your enemies. The Church, the police, Ina and now Harmony as well. Moving to a new body, if done well, could well help you shake off the watchful gazes of at least some of these. But there's also a chance that it will do the exact opposite. For example selecting a new body that happens to live in Harmony's territory would be dangerous, even if it means escaping her notice for a while. So long as you aren't spotted changing bodies you should be able to shake off most of your adversaries with your switch, though the more you know about your new host the more you can be sure you aren't jumping head first into an entirely new problem.
So then, with all this in mind you'll need to consider your targets. After obtaining a few more potential hosts at the casino you'll need to consider them all.
The first and potentially most wasteful is Venus. You first determined her to be a target due to her position as a nurse which would give you access to a large number of other possible targets in the form of her patients and the clinic doctors as well as possible contacts in the hospital itself. In addition to this, possessing Venus would have the additional advantage of allowing you to continue to work primarily with your existing circle and not having you end up somewhere else completely. With full access to Roger and through him the Little Angels and the ability to visit home at any time, living as Venus likely wouldn't be too much different from being Zach, it would simply mean 'work' would replace 'school' in the routine.
The downsides to using Venus are also rather obvious. For starters, Venus is already one of your targets, meaning you'd be wasting an asset by possessing her, essentially wasting a lot of your work on her. In addition Venus has Usa's blessing and you have no idea whether that will interfere with the possession attempt. You only have the one shot, after all and it would be disasterous if Venus was able to shake it off. Even if it is successful you have no idea how Usa will react to this or if the rabbit would still be able to exhert control over Venus while you are inside her. Putting yourself at the rabbit's mercy would not be good, especially after doing something that is likely to piss Usa off.
Of the other targets close to home you have Ami's father, the politician. Not as close to your current circle as Venus, it still wouldn't be too difficult to adjust your new body to allow you to make use of your current access. Your control over Ami would likely be key for that. Not only would having her father give you a decent amount of influence, it will also grant you access to Sierra, a possible way into the university.
Of course, possessing a politician also has it's risks. Without having access to his memories quickly you're likely to make mistakes during his work, and as a politician you are likely to meet people during your job that would recognise a change in behaviour and what that could mean. Potentially dangerous.
Speaking of the university you could target Cindy's mother, the lecturer. Having access to a number of university students sounds great and a good way to expand your influence in relative safety. But it likely wouldn't grant you any major advantages other than just more bodies under your thrall. You don't see your new circles having many useful skills or talents you could take advantage of.
In which case, maybe taking the solicitor's body would be better. A body with useful skills, once you incorporate his memories and a large number of potential targets, your ability to expand effectively may well be dependant on what sort of clients the man works with, so perhaps more information would be useful before taking his body.
There is also Lousie's father, the bank manager. Possibly best if you want easy access to human capital, it could possibly be useful to take his body for only a short period of time, taking what you need from him then quickly moving on. Again, perusing the bank's contacts would be useful. With all three of these potential bodies, securing a tighter degree of control over the new host's child will be key, and further work will certainly be needed on them considering they'll likely be your only real connection with your existing circle.
Then you have the new options, the ones you found out about last night at the casino. Terrence Southern is a consultant working for the police. Mainly dealing with drug trafficking it's unlikely he works closely with anyone in the know and who would immediately notice anything wrong. As such it would give you options for discovering weak links among the police and subverting at least one hostile organisation. It would also be a great way to find out more about Wendy, your cop neighbour and a potential target you can't conquer without improved Dream Invasion and more information.
Terrence lives up north, in Soprano's territory, meaning it will be hard to deal with Aria and your current circle, but it might throw your enemies off the scent to move up there for a while. Of course if you want to throw them off even more perhaps moving east into Baritone's territory would be best. The gang member, Hudson, primarily works in Baritone's region, his gang being fairly small time and not influential enough to justify their presence in the Lowertown, where all the real criminals operate. Still, it would be a good step up and an opportunity to get really stuck into the city's underworld where all the real malice can be made.
Of course it would also be dangerous. You wouldn't just have to worry about your current enemies but the potential for a whole new group, different gangs, more police attention and possible unwanted attention from Cerberus if your gang gets too big. Perhaps a safer bet would be to target the crooked accountant, Donna. While she's likely connected to the gangs she lives elsewhere, giving you a chance to influence and utilise them without being directly in the line of fire.
Your biggest concern about Donna is that, according to your information, she lives in Harmony's sphere of influence. Though it could be said that hiding in Harmony's own backyard might be the best way to avery her attention. Then again, there will always be a chance of running into her unintentionally. You likely wouldn't even know if it happens, either considering she can change her form.
Finally you have the bunny girl, Julie. You aren't sure exactly how valid she is as a possession target, considering the heat on her from her boss and how they essentially handed her to you. But it might give you an in with the Rat and its apparently strong intelligence network. With that kind of expanse you could probably easily obtain information about a number of other tempting targets, making Julie a potentially valuable stepping stone into something bette. Also bunnygirls are hot.
Failing all of this, you could still try to find a different target, though you'd need to make this decision early and put in some effort quickly if you want to have the time to find a new target and get everything else done in time. It's something you'd like to avoid if at all possible. So then, what or 'who' would be the best choice…
You disentangle yourself from your family, grab some paper and a pen and begin brainstorming, writing the names of your various options, any pros and cons you can think of for selecting them and mulling the possibilities over. You discard Venus as a candidate first. The Usa problem isn't something you are really up for messing with, and you feel as though she's only an epiphany away from being fully at your command anyway. You discard Julie as an option quite quickly as well. You don't really know enough about her to make her your choice and besides, you don't need to be a bunny girl, you can just make your own. You feel as though Venus would make a great bunnygirl and the irony would be endlessly amusing.
With all said and done, taking over Hudson and trying your hand at entering the underworld is likely going to be the best way to increase your strength and influence and it is something you will certainly need to do if you ever want to reach the levels of the others. But you really don't feel up to it right now. If you are going to be hanging around a lot of well armed guys with bad personalities it would be good to be able to hold your own. And right now you can't. Maybe when you've improved your Body more you can make this leap.
Entering this world via the accountant could be safer, if she didn't happen to live in fucking Harmony's territory. Being separated from all your current assets is a tough sacrifice too and you feel as though you'd rather spend more time gathering information about these areas before you jump in and hope for the best. As such you conclude that you'd rather stay local, thus disregarding the police consultant. There are likely other ways to infiltrate the police.
Whittling down the options you consider Ami's father, the politician. While you find it difficult to justify your reluctance to select him part of it may well come down to the idea that he might just be too busy for your goals. If your host body is too focused on work you'd have to match that work or risk giving yourself away. And the more work you have to do the less time you'll have for anything else. This is going to be a reoccurring issue, of course. Most viable targets will have jobs and lives that you'll have to deal with in someway. You wonder how many conveniant, high profile targets with large connections but no responsiblities there are. Likely not that many. Maybe you can track down some pampered rich brat for next time.
The bank manager doesn't sound too bad, but doesn't really stand out to you either. Perhaps you'll pop into his shoes once you can use your Possession more liberally but for now you'll aim for something with a little bit more potential. Which really leaves you with the lecturer or the solicitor. The lecturer's benefits are obvious, a large campus of young adults to brainwash and mould to your desires, an enclosed space which would be easy to cut off from the outside world and influence as you see fit. But there likely wouldn't be much talent available there and you'd essentially be trading one school routine for another. And there's the fact that you'd have to possess a woman to gain access to your university campus paradise.
You aren't exactly adverse to being in a woman's body, though you would rather do so while being a man first. You really would like to lose your V card with your dick rather than someone elses. Maybe once you've gotten used to using your male equipment would it be interesting to change things up and bat for the other team. So then, the solicitor it is. You aren't sure exactly what kind of solicitor Rick's dad is, but you can hopefully find out. And it should give you a wider net with which to catch tantalising prey. And so your decision is made, you'll be taking over the solicitor, Damien Rivers.
With your decision made the first step of your planning is completed. There's still a lot more to consider though. But first, before you forget you pull out the Reality Notebook and make another amendment to Cassie's instructions. With this she now has: 'You're a cocktease that gets off on manipulating men' as her flirtation command and 'Completely and willingly serve and obey me' as her obedience command. Next time you'll likely change 'willingly' into 'eagerly' and with that you'll likely be finished with these two instructions. Cassie will be yours, unable and unwilling to detach herself from you and hopefully loving every second of it.
It isn't entirely clear whether the mere act of serving and obeying you from now on will raise her affection for you, but even if it doesn't rise she'll still belong to you. Making her enjoy being yours would be an added bonus, but it isn't essential, so long as all avenues of escape for her have been cut off. Soon you'll be able to start considering what to do with her third instruction, though that will be later on in the week, Thursday most likely. For now you have more pressing matters at hand. You'll need to work on Megan a bit this morning, make your decision as to what you wish to do with her, but after that you'll have to plan your time carefully.
You decide that this upcoming Friday night or Saturday morning will be when you make the move to claim your new body. This will give you most or all of the weekend to solidify your hold over your new body and properly search through its memories to make sure you can pass as the host when the week begins. This essentially only gives you the better part of five days to get all your prep work done, tie off any loose ends and finish any projects you have started.
That really isn't a lot of time. At a push you could maybe justify pushing the swap back to late on Saturday. It wouldn't give you as much time to work on your new body but you could probably get away with it if you focused the majority of your time on Sunday to assimilating Damien's sould.
So then, how to best utilise your time? First, what do you want to get done this week? You have four projects at the moment, Ami, Ms Erikson, Elisa and Venus. The later two shouldn't take long to finish at all, though Venus will likely need better insight into how to usurp Usa's hold. Ami and Erikson will take longer and will need to be focused on. Maria and Cassie won't require your direct input and Megan could hopefully be left with only a barest minimum amount of work before you decide what to do with her.
In addition to your projects you'll need to do a few other things. The Little Angels will need to be brought under your full control and be given their marching orders, you'll need to visit The Merchant at some point to inquire about this 'opportunity' and sell your unneeded items. Soprano will be contacting you at some point about Gary and you should probably spend a bit of time at Roger's trying to bolster the place in case of another attack.
What's more you'll need to obtain a willing soul to take over Zach's body for you, unless you plan to leave it vacant until Damien can take over for you. Finally you'll need to make sure you fulfil your soul quota and let Aria know what you plan to do. If there's time left over you'd like to work more on Sherry and get her ready to infiltrate the church. Maybe giving Lucy some more 'training' might be beneficial as well. Of course there's also your nightly visits to The Diary to consider. Likely it would make sense to allocate at least on night this week to finishing Elisa.
Looking at the list you feel rather daunted. Is it really possible to fit all this in during the span of a single working week? No matter how you look at it, Ms Erikson is the issue here. You just haven't had enough time to work on her, a couple of hours each week isn't sufficient. A good chunk of your time will need to go into her if you want to pull this off. But part of you wonders if it's even worth it anymore. Is there really a need to make her your accomplice when you'll soon be leaving the school? You won't really want 'Zach' to get up to too much mischief while you are gone or it would ruin the image of him you've built up these last weeks. So then, should you try adjusting her programming for some other purpose or just give up entirely?
Yeah, it's better to put Erikson on the backbench, like Wendy and Rogue for now. You'll come back to them at some point. And without any pressing need to work on your teacher you've freed up a lot of time and possibly even significantly reduced your need to attend school at all. Considering you can call Ami to your house in the evenings it will only be the Little Angels that will require your attention at school now. And it might even be worth setting up a location to meet up with them outside of school. Especially when you need a new Providence ritual in your new body.
Considering all this it may be worth faking illness for the last couple of days. It might even allow for a good alibi for when you jump bodies. If Zach is so ill he has to take two or three days off school then people won't ask questions if he disappears into his house for a long weekend. It could be a good way of avoiding the need for a new willing soul to occupy his body. Though the trade off would be you'd need to make sure Megan doesn't notice or is totally okay with your sudden coma. Now you'd like to decide if you'd like to make detailed plans for the next few days or just keep proceeding one day at a time.
You scribble out a loose plan based on everything you want to get done and when would be the best time to do so. You frown down at your paper. Even excluding Ms Erikson from your schedule it is tightly packed. You tap at the first two days in your schedule. Considering how so much of what you need to do cannot be done at school you have resolved to only attend for the first two days. Then you'll be feigning illness. The problem with this is you aren't sure if those two days will give you enough time to achieve everything you want to achieve with the Little Angels and with Ami at the same time.
Your only recourse will be to somehow do as much as you can with your classmates during class itself and focus on Ami during lunch. If you can convince Ami and Maria to join up with the Angels that could be helpful, though you'll need to make sure the Angels act as normal as possible while the girls are around. And making sure Sherry doesn't attend might be important, considering you'll likely be using Aura and you don't want to expose her to too much more of it.
You'll need to invite Ami round your house Tuesday evening, before you start pretending to be sick. If you can't get her where she needs to be by Wednesday morning you'll be in trouble and you might need to sacrifice Lucy's training to make sure it's done. Though you could probably still train Lucy as Damien if you really need to.
Hopefully three days working at Soprano's will be enough to earn you the souls you need for your quota. You could spend part of Friday afternoon working there if necessary though it would involve spending less time at Roger's. You've only allocated a single time slot for The Merchant, hopefully you will be able to find him. It's unlikely you'll be able to fit him in again, so if you do need to speak to him again during the week you'll have to hope he's around near where you happen to be.
A lot of your night time is designated to The Diary. This is largely due to there not being much else you can do during that time. You'd rather use a morning slot to finish Elisa and as for Megan…
You pause, tapping the last two evenings of the week with your pen. Megan, you'll need to decide what you want to do with her. With this in mind you climb to your feet and head downstairs. A base level of manipulation will be necessary right now, to make sure she doesn't leave the house or say or notice anything suspicious. You can only hope that Sister Cassandra doesn't visit again this week as you don't have the time to deal with her. Megan is already in the kitchen when you arrive downstairs
'Ah!' she squeaks when she sees you, 'I'm sorry! I thought I'd prepare breakfast, it's the least I can do after you let me stay here last night! I really don't know what I would have done otherwise! Thank you so much!' You brush off her gratitude, still considering what to do about her. Your goal yesterday has been completed. You have her, and the two reward items she earnt yesterday. Other than keeping her quiet you wouldn't necessarily need to do much else with her.
You could let her leave here after a few days, though that would be a waste of a potential minion. You doubt it would take too long to warp this fragile little waif into your creature. If you had the time. But right now you really don't. Still, you could still make the effort. Two evenings to work on her, maybe throw in a night as well if you really want to. It likely won't be enough, but it could be a decent start. And unlike any of the others she isn't fixed and could be moved however you like. You could have her move in with Roger, training with Usa full time might up her value.
Or you could even see if you could move her into your new home with you. You don't know much about Damien Rivers, your soon to be new host. Does he have family in addition to Rick? Likely, but that wouldn't necessarily be an issue. With your powers you doubt it would take too long to convince Damien's family to allow a poor helpless girl to stay with them temporarily. Once Megan is installed in the Rivers house 'temporarily' could become 'permanent' pretty easily. With that in place you'd have all the time in the world to warp her little mind however you wish.
Regardless of what you do with her it might still be worth asking The Diary to check on her. You wouldn't put it past Harmony to leave you a nasty little surprise.
Having Megan move in with Roger seems like a win win situation. She can train with Usa to develop her skills as a 'worshipper' and with her helping out the rabbit should loosen up a bit and maybe confide in you more. Plus if you happen to be on hand when the rabbit does his thing on her you might just get an idea into how Usa has a hold on Venus. Hell, the rabbit might not even be as concerned about the older woman anymore with a new helper.
Even so, you still consider Megan to be yours and will be reclaiming her at some point. You'll need to work on her yourself first, make sure she knows exactly who she belongs to before you hand her over. Maybe she could even be a spy for you, reporting on Usa's movements and habbits to give you a chance to supplant the rabbit. You aren't sure how your relationship with Usa will be affected when you jump bodies. Certainly you won't be able to train with it as Damien. An alternate arrangement may be necessary. But that's an issue for later.
For now you need to do a few basic adjustments on Megan while she bustles around light heartedly making you breakfast and pouring you a drink. She seems to already know her place, how wonderful. For now a simple Suggestion not to notice anything strange or unusual in the house, plus another Suggestion to make herself scarce when visitors arrive and finally a Suggestion to not want to leave this place of her own volition and you should be set, for now. You'll need to decide how much further you want to go with her before you hand her to the rabbit, but that can wait until later. For now you need to head for school.
You arrive at what will hopefully be your penultimate day at school. Regardless of what happens next you don't think you'll be missing this tedium. It's even worse today, you are on a schedule and it's tedium you can ill afford. As such you'll be taking some pretty drastic measures. It's something you can really do only because you've already secured the loyalty of your class. Otherwise they'd likely react poorly to what you are about to do. But it really cannot be helped, you have a lot to do and not much time to do it.
So you wait for about ten minutes after class has started and everyone has settled down and hit Ms Erikson with a Sleep. Thanks to your increased level she's immediately out like a light, no way to resist at all. Naturally your class are alarmed to see their teacher simply fall asleep in the middle of lessons but you quickly take control of the situation, checking to make sure she's okay and then directing the class to continue studying on their own. As they resumed their studies you began to approach each classmate individually in order to solidify your hold over them, just as you had with Roger before them.
'Zach is our leader, I'll happily obey all his instructions and treasure his well being above my own from now on!'
You push this Suggestion into the heads of twelve out of sixteen of your classmates. You are deliberately holding some Mana back, firstly to use on Ms Erikson to explain away her suddenly falling asleep in class and the rest for Ami, who is arguably a bigger priority. You will have to get the last remaining four tomorrow. You finish your 'tour' at Rick's desk.
A usually quiet and unassuming boy, Rick has accepted your leadership and authority with the same muted reaction as he seems to view everything else. He's never gone out of his way to approach you, never spoken up in class without being prompted, never volunteered for sports teams or class activities. He's just always been around, reading his books and making his notes without really bothering anyone. If he didn't have a useful father he'd be a nobody, just an unrecognisable face in the crowd.
But now you have to make a point to note his face and his personality. You'll be his father soon, after all. But first you need to know more about the man you will be replacing, Damien Rivers. And now that you have this boy's unwavering loyalty he should tell you anything you wish to know.
So then, who is Damien Rivers?
A surprisingly young father, Damien actually met his now wife during his last year of university. Two more years of law school and Damien was hired directly into Moores Solicitors as an assistant to a then solicitor who has since moved on, leaving Damien to fill his shoes. Damien now works as one of three solicitors for the small firm and has been doing so for the last two years. Impressive for someone still in his twenties.
As for the firm itself, Moores primarily deals with conveyancing. Not a word Rick knows himself, he simply knows that it's about houses. So Damien is responsible for supervising the buying and selling of houses and making sure all the legal red tape has been crossed. While fairly dull, it does involve a lot of time inspecting properties and deeds to identify potential obstacles to a sale and help negotiate contracts to streamline the processes. In addition to this, it can also involve working from home and Damien usually only spends two or three days actually heading into his office. You'll have to decide what advantages that kind of work can bring you.
As for Damien's wife, Alexis:
A fairly unasuming woman, Alexis was an art student, one of the many people who went into university hoping to make a living out of doing something they really enjoy, only to find that the world doesn't typically work like that. She became pregnant with Rick during her last year of university, and married Damien soon after they graduated. The pair spent the two years of their marriage struggling to make ends meet while Damien made his way through law school.
Now they are living fairly comfortably, and Alexis has even been able to set up a small art studio in the house, not that she's had all that much success so far. As for her relationship with Damien it has become somewhat strained as of late. As a driven person, Damien has thrown himself into his work, leaving less and less time for his wife. Alexis has found herself facing the typical issues a housewife faces when her husband tackles a challenging career. Though the main source of tension between the husband and wife is Damien's boss, Miranda Moores:
An older woman who has managed to maintain her good looks and an impressive figure, Miranda has often invited herself over to the Rivers' house, making little effort to hide her obvious interest in Damien. While Damien himself continues to deny any and all allegations of unfaithful conduct, the fears likely cannot help but fester in the back of Alexis' mind like a poison. Of course, much of this is conclusions based on the testimony of an unusually observant seven year old who listens to his parents arguments in the next room so you aren't sure how accurate this information is.
You ask Rick a few more questions about friends and coworkers with limited success, determining to shelve this line of questioning. You know enough for a basic idea of the situation you'll be walking into. No other children, only one man and his wife in the house, the son already firmly in your clutches. A small firm with close and immediate access to the one in charge, taking control of both the household and the business shouldn't be difficult. At which point you'd likely have free range to do whatever you'd like.
What you do after that will likely depend on whatever nuggets you can dig up inside Damien's head. His job should get him into a lot of people's houses and there should be a good amount of time with homeowners on their own. Easy to spread your influence. It also shouldn't be too difficult to muddy the waters a bit, a few small errors in a contract or a report can cost people a lot of money, and with that earn you a good amount of malice. Though there will probably be other ways to earn that without jeopardising your soon to be company's reputation.
But further plans can wait, it's about time for lunch. After waking up and Suggesting that Ms Erikson not worry too much about falling asleep you call Ami to the clubroom for another session, neglecting to mention the Little Angels will be present as well. You also send Sherry a message instructing her not to join you. You'll be using your Aura on Ami again and would rather not risk affecting Sherry any more. In the same vein you send Roger on some trivial errands to keep him out of the way. You'll take the opportunity to influence the rest of the Angels, though it's likely unnecessary.
Considering the Little Angels will be in the room and are already about as obedient as they are likely to get without transforming them into some sort of adorable little cult - thought that may still be necessary - you decide to go for affection with Ami today. You set up with the Angels ahead of time, giving your classmates strict instructions. They need to act reasonably normal but defer to you as though you are such an incredibly smart and reliable person.
Ami arrives a few minutes later, trailed by a sulky looking Maria. Ami's blush seems an almost permanent fixture on her face nowadays, reminding you of Sherry before you finished your work on her. A mental image flashes through your mind of both girls kneeling at your feet, equally blank and mindless expressions on their faces as they wait to serve your every whim. While that would certainly be cool you've already decided what you want Ami to do. Maybe you'll install a puppet mode into her when you have some free time. For now you need to finish this.
Your 'study session' with Ami has very little actual studying in it and consists of the two of you being interupted by your classmates continuing to approach you asking for advise and instruction. All of them play their roles well, acting as though they are simply asking for help from someone they greatly trust and respect and are full of praise and gratitude for you. You also instructed the girls to act a little too familiar and to get a little too close, trying to stir up feelings of jealousy inside Ami. Through this you hope to have her come to terms with her feelings for you.
The ploy works well, Ami becomes increasingly flustered as her time with you is taken up by others and begins to pout in a most adorable way when your female classmates start to give you attention. Of course, your Aura is affecting them as well, so it's probably not that difficult for them to fake. Repeat this again tomorrow and you'll probably have your own harem of seven year olds. And yes, that's as useless as it sounds, though being loved by a lot of girls does make you feel pretty good. Maybe you'll order your female classmates to fight over you, not that it would likely earn you any malice.
Though what likely is earning you malice right now is Maria. Her scowl has only grown as she's been here, making sure to maintain a good distance. That's fine, you don't need your Aura to work on her, your Soul Brand is all you need for her. Thanks to your instruction from when she was under Aria's power she won't be able to report her suspicions or concerns about you, meaning you can do whatever you want in front of her now. Case in point being your final move near the end of the lunch period. You ask Ami if she wants to join up with the Little Angels.
'I've known for a while, but I really love Zach, I want to spend as much time with him as possible!'
You Suggest this to Ami, doing so right in front of Maria. Before you would have had to use another Suggestion to make sure she ignores it. This time you don't bother. Maybe the Angels heard your Suggestion as well, not that they are capable of caring by this point. Ami seems to rock as the Suggestion hits her.
'If that's what you want,' she tells you, her face going ever more flushed. Then she leans forwards and kisses you on the cheek. Your Angels are quick to cheer but Maria just as quickly grabs Ami and starts to pull her away, her face all puffed up with her childish fury. Ami seems annoyed by this but you give her a nod, tacitly giving her permission to allow herself to be dragged away by her friend. You've made good work today, no need to push it further.
Who knew Maria could get so angry? But that nets you 50 Malice so you sure aren't complaining!
You keep your head down and behave during the last part of the day, Sleeping Erikson twice in the same day would really cause her some alarm. Besides, you are completely out of Mana and so wouldn't be able to even if you wanted to. Your classmates are somewhat restless, paying little attention to the lessons, still discussing you and Ami. Even though that's essentially irrelevant. You'll be taking far more than a kiss from the little girl before you are finished. And you'll have Maria as well while you are at it, for little reason other than because you want her.
You finish class without further issues and make your way outside, Roger trailing behind you like a lost puppy. He hasn't really factored into your schemes all that much, except to act as the 'official' leader of the Angels, taking the fall for you if anything goes wrong. You'll be giving the Angels their marching orders tomorrow and from that point Roger will be a lot busier managing them for you. You tell him as much before you part ways, leaving him a lot happier than before. You'd swear you could see a tail wagging behind him as he turns away.
Now for the tricky part of the day. Finding The Merchant. You are under the impression that it should be easier to find him when he actually wants to see you, so let's hope this turns out to be true as you can ill afford to waste much time searching for him.
You call your mother and tell her you don't need her to pick you up today. Instead you start walking, hoping to encounter The Merchant in the same way you did before. A few hours later you are thoroughly exhausted, drawing concerned stares and fed up. Why does this keep happening to you? Doesn't the slippery bastard want to see you? Why is this so hard? Maybe you really are cursed?
Almost as you are thinking that you feel something happen, almost as though fate itself is shifting itself for you. Thank fuck for the rabbit, if this happens too much more you might start to consider feeling bad for poaching Venus from out from under it. Maybe.
You find yourself drifting in a specific direction, to where you hope The Merchant is. You came prepared, having rearranged the items in your bracelet so that the ones you are most likely to want to sell are all present. A few of the consumables are also crammed into your school bag and you had your mother provide you with a sizable wad of human currency in case you actually want to buy anything normal from him. A maid uniform for your mother might be nice, maybe collars for your other slaves? There's probably a fair amount of actually useful stuff you could get from him without needing to eat into your precious malice reserves. Assuming he lowers himself to selling that sort of crap.
A blue flame guides you where you need to go. This time he's set up shop inside an otherwise abandoned ice cream shop down an alley.
'Welcome! Good ta see ya!' he says, 'what'll it be today?'
'You said something about finding me some opportunities last time we spoke,' you begin, 'I have it on pretty good authority that you found one such opportunity.' The Merchant chuckles hoarsely.
'Good authority, is it?' he repeats, 'well it ain't wrong! I did a bit of diggin' ya see, asked around about the the best way to put that 'talent' o yours ta good use! And I got some bites!' He reaches inside his coat and withdraws a lantern from inside. A number of lights float around inside it. Most of them are a dull blue, hovering listlessly near the bottom. Three of them, however, pulse angrily and are moving around erraticaly inside as though trying to find a way out.
'That little butterknife o yours gives you a bunch o neat powers,' he explains, 'but you remember what the most valuable one is?' You think back. Aria was the one who mentioned it before, wasn't she?
'You are talking about my ability to quickly corrupt souls?' you ask him. He chuckles again.
'That's right,' he confirms, 'willing souls are a rare and precious treasure and people will pay top dollar for 'em! Anyone who can obtain 'em as quickly as you can will certainly be equally valuable!' You nod, resisting the urge to shudder at the implication. You remember this, if people found out how quickly you can corrupt souls the other demons would descend upon you and force you to work for them. You'd essentially be turned into a factory, churning out souls for other people without any freedom or opportunities for yourself.
'So then,' you continue, following this chain of thought to it's logical conclusion, 'you are offering to what, be my middle man?' He grins toothily at you.
'That's right,' he agrees, 'you can't sell your services directly out of fear of being targetted, but if I find the clients for you there's no problem, eh? Of course, I'll take a portion of the profits as a 'finder's fee' but you'll still make a tidy profit for something you can pretty much do on the go, right?' You consider this. There really doesn't seem to be any downside to this arrangement. It involves relying on The Merchant to keep your secret, but he already knows it and is more likely to keep it to himself if he thinks he can profit from it. And you certainly need the rewards for such a service. The only problem you see is…
'I need to be able to Brand the souls to work on them,' you begin. He nods again.
'Not a problem,' he assures you, 'I can Brand 'em for you at a generous rate. A pity you already have a soul Branded to you right now or we could start right now. But no matter. The offer stands, come find me once that one has finished cooking and we can start to make a tidy sum together!' he chuckles again. No doubt he'll fleece you most awfully with his finder's fee and his Brand charge, but it would still be essentially money you could gain for almost nothing, considering your Brand works in the background. And if you need to speed things up you can do that as well.
'Alright,' you affirm, 'sounds like a plan. I'll come find you again when I can.'
'Trust me,' he concludes, 'you won't regret it!'
You can now accept soul corruption contracts from The Merchant. Whenever you have no Brand in place you can speak to him about accepting one such contract. Until you have Soul Brand you'll need to pay for having one done for you, the cost of which will be subtracted from your profit. Once you've finished corrupting the soul just return it to The Merchant for your reward. It's worth noting that most higer grade souls are more difficult to corrupt, as such the more lucrative deals will typically take longer. This opportunity might even allow you to interact with more influential individuals across the city!
You mull over all the items in your bags. Selling the Triumph Trophy is a no brainer. You don't need a golden statue to feel good about yourself, you'd rather have a room full of adoring slaves instead. And the Dog Whistle isn't something you want to rely on. You are hoping to avoid clashing with Ina again with this move and her whistles aren't reliable enough to rely on anyway. Hopefully before the next encounter you'll have a better method. So you'll sell that as well. Everything else is less certain.
You could sell your consumables but the malice gain from doing so is negligible. You got more just now from Maria! And the Puppet Doll is probably more valuable than it's sell value. Hell, you could use it to take someone prisoner and farm them for malice until their mind gives out. You'd just need the opportunity to use it. As for the Urn, that 600 Malice sure is tempting. That's a Tier 2 ability and change right there. But it's unlikely you'll find another one so easily and you may need the Urn some time in the future. As such you'd be best keeping it.
You almost feel like an RPG protagonist, hoarding your best items in the possibly vain hope you'll end up using them down the line. Let's hope you don't die with all this stuff on you and inadvertently make some mugger's day. Not that a normal human thief would know what to do with most of this anyway.
You have now unlocked Soul Transfer! You'll be able to deposit willing souls you obtain into suitable vessels. Though it might be necessary to give those souls a bit of instruction to make sure they know what they are doing!
Your selling finished you move onto buying.
'So what so you have to sell?' You ask him. He chuckles and pulls back his coat, starting to rummage through it.
'I gots all kinds a stuff!' He tells you, pulling things out seemingly at random until a pile of goods is lying at your feet. Let's see, a rubber duck, a book, a single shoe, a hipflask, a toilet seat, a tea set, a mobile phone, a baseball bat, a fully loaded RPG-7… Wait, what the fuck? That can't be safe, right? You edge carefully out of the firing line of the dubious weapon as he dumps a kettle on top of it.
'In truth,' he continues, 'it's probably best to ask me what you want and I'll see if I can deliver it! So then, what are ya buyin'?'
The Merchant sells three types of goods. Bronze goods are standard human items that can be bought for human currency and hold no special abilities or powers. That doesn't necessarily make them useless though. Thanks to Elisa you can afford a fair number of these.
Silver goods are low quality demon, divine or terrestrial goods. Typically of low power or limited use they will of limited use and likely be exhausted quickly. Silver goods are bought using malice, meaning you'll need to give up on Diary abilities if you want them.
Gold goods are the highest quality items and are only bought using souls. Better quality goods require higher quality souls. Grade 1 souls aren't considered all that valuable and will only get you the bottom barrel Gold items. And even then you'll need to pay a number of them, so it's likely not worth asking about these now.
In addition to these goods The Merchant will identify items and souls for you at 50 Malice per soul and 100 Malice per item.
You start off by having The Merchant appraise your two souls. You aren't surprised when he reveals them both to be grade 2. Now you need to work out how to use them. While you pretty much understand how malice works as a currency, the use of souls still eludes you. As far as you can remember they aren't so much a currency but a part of the demon society's main job. Something to do about filtering out all the nasty bits so the soul can be reborn back on Earth. Or something. Except, surprise, surprise, demons are pretty shit about staying on message. Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to entrust this important duty to them, anyway?
Shelving the soul issue for now you make some standard purchases. A maid uniform for your mother is the first purchase, followed by a few collars to mark your property. But having them walk around with collars on would give the game away so you buy a few chokers instead. More comfortable, less obvious but still good proof of ownership.
With the trivial items out of the way you go for a few more practical ones. You'd love to grab a proper bullet proof vest but you wouldn't be able to carry it away without people noticing. It would also be too big and bulky. So instead you remind yourself to pick one up next time and grab yourself a collection of smoke and flash grenades. Nothing fatal, you'd prefer to deal the finishing blow with your Diary instead, though you may end up regretting such a choice.
Lastly you pick up a tazer, one of the ranged ones. You don't want to be caught carrying anything fatally dangerous. Also you don't trust yourself not to accidently shoot yourself in the head. Anything left? You feel as though you forgot something. Oh, right. A bunnygirl outfit. Might as well. Not sure when you'll end up using it though.
With your physical purchases finished you hand over some more money for a different kind of purchase, asking The Merchant about how easy it would be to switch the soul in the Notebook out. His answer isn't encouraging. He explains that Zach's soul was distorted significantly to allow it to power the Reality Notebook and that retrieving it isn't recommended. He doesn't say it's impossible, only that withdrawing it will be costly and risk damaging the soul. Certainly it wouldn't function well if put back into a body. 'Zach' would likely awaken as a shell of his former self, brain damaged and confused. With sufficient skill the damage could be mended, but it wouldn't be easy.
You are disapointed but not overly surprised. The Reality Notebook has a power you cannot begin to understand, so you suppose it would make sense that returning everthing to normal wouldn't be easy. Perhaps if you are better at working on souls yourself it would be a more viable option. But The Merchant's wording would indicate it will cost more than you are prepared to pay. So while it could be done, it seems best to avoid it.
'Come back anytime!' The Merchant calls out as you move away. Even without some of your bulkier purchases you still have more than you can carry. You'd best call your mother to pick you up before you leave here. Then you hesitate, your phone in your hand. On second thought, you don't need to rely on her for everything. You have someone else you can rely on to drive you and you could probably do with checking up on her anyway. So instead you decide to call Cassie and have her take you back home.
She answers almost immediately and makes no complaint as you give her your instruction, arriving twenty minutes later, still in her work uniform. Oops, you maybe should have considered that, though you had thought she'd be done by now. She'll get in trouble with her boss, but that's fine. She'll be making her money a different way soon enough. She approaches you quickly, then hesitates, the compulsion to obey you ending the moment she arrives. You look her over in silence, trying to gauge her mood.
She's nervous, maybe a bit uncomfortable and her face is flushed, though that could just be embarrasment. Her legs are pressed together, indicating she either needs the bathroom or is a bit aroused right now. Perhaps it's a Pavlovian response to your conditioning, considering you haven't ordered her to enjoy your orders yet.
'What have you done to me?' she asks you, halfheartedly, likely not expecting a real answer. She eyes you somewhat wearily.
'Everything has gotten so weird since I met you,' she continues, 'I find myself thinking and doing things I would have have considered before. I remember your instructions from the other day and I find myself looking forward to it! I've already located a few men that fit the criteria you outlined before. The thought of teasing them and getting them excited, it makes me excited too. I know I wasn't like this before! You changed me, I know it. But, even though I know that, I don't…' she trails off, no doubt finding it difficult to explain why she isn't more angry at you at all the changes you made to her.
'And also,' she says, with renewed determination, 'I haven't seen Kevin since that one night. What even happened back then? I remember…' she goes very red in the face, shakes her head and presses on, 'I was on the bed, he was there, and then… Then… I've never felt like that before! But now Kevin's gone! We've all had to work overtime to cover for him! It's been a big pain! You know, don't you?' She eyes you, awaiting your answer.
Retroactively adding a bit of malice for the inconveniance suffered by Kevin's coworkers as you were indirectly responsible for his disappearance.
'I work for someone,' you tell her, 'someone nasty. But you don't need to worry about that. I'll make sure to look after you so long as you do as you are told, alright? Just know that I need you to gather negative energy from horny assholes. You don't need to feel bad for them, anyone willing to take you up on your offer isn't going to be a decent person themselves. As for Kevin, he's been called for a higher purpose. No need to worry about him anymore, alright?' She seems a bit more frightened, but you give her a reassuring smile, like you are the grown up here and she's the child. And her confused and strained mind latches onto you.
'Alright,' she concedes, 'I'll trust in you, do what you say. Promise you'll look after me from now on?' You make a gesture with your hand and she leans down. You stroke her cheek.
'Of course,' you tell her, 'you belong to me now, I'll make sure to take care of you.' She smiles, so happy for some comfort she doesn't even question your language. You do mean it. You look after your property, after all.
'Good girl,' you tell her, 'now I need you to put all this stuff in the boot of your car without paying much attention to it or letting anyone else see it.' She jerks at your compliment, still finding the phrase arousing. You should probably take that little trigger away at some point. Though a bit of pet play with your personal cocktease wouldn't go amiss. She's quick as always to obey your commands and you leave her to it, climbing into the front passenger seat while you let her get to it. Once she's finished she climbs into the driver seat and looks over to you.
'Home,' you say and she nods, having already anticipated your order.
You travel home in relative silence, Cassie glances over at you a number of times, but you make sure she focuses on the road and her driving. One time she seems to frown into the rear view mirror but the moment doesn't last long. Once you are home you have Cassie wait while you head into the house to fetch a black bag. Bringing it back outside you have Cassie put everything into the bag and then carry it inside for you. After that you send her into your bathroom to get herself off as a reward for her service, before sending her back home. A late dinner with your family and it's time for bed.
You casually grope your mother as the three of you climb into bed. She doesn't mind any more, in fact she's actually encouraging you now. You edge her for a bit before leaving her to finish herself off, wrapping your needy little sister up in your embrace and resting your head on your mother's breasts. You won't be able to do this much longer so you'll have to enjoy it as much as you can.
As though understanding that you weren't paying attention this morning The Diary repeats the same chapter again. You manage to pay more attention to it this time, though it doesn't really help you know how to avoid the same issues yourself. You can assure yourself that you don't abuse your Suggestion nearly as much as Kairos did. Mainly because he didn't have a Diary like you do, leaving him as something of a one trick pony at the moment.
'What if anything did Harmony or any other demon, including their lackeys and exclusing myself, do to Megan?' You ask The Diary. She smiles.
'Well, let's see,' she considers, 'first Baritone had his familiar Stop the poor dear and transport her over to a secure location. Then he instructed his men to brutalize her and 'discipline' her. He then Stopped her again and brought her to the Casino to take part in the poker game.' She continues to list out all the various things that happened to Megan during the poker game, and Baritone returning Megan to where he found her.
'Harmony then proceeded to plant an instruction into her head ordering her to call a specified number before she goes to sleep every night informing Harmony of her activities and any new information gleaned during the day, adding a trigger phrase, 'Harmony is the love of my life,' that can be said to her to deactivate it.'
A trigger phrase to deactivate it? Why would she put that in?
'Can only she use it?' You ask, 'or can anyone use it?' The Diary waggles a finger at you, indicating that you can't ask anything else. Looks like you'll need to work that out yourself.