Lies My Succubus Told Me
Log Info
- Title: Lies My Succubus Told Me
- Emitter: Ashes
- Characters: Sabina
- Place: A03: The Tarrace
- Time: Saturday, October 23, 2021, 2:28 PM
- Summary: Rupi leaves.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-<* The TarRaCe *>--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
Inside, this two-story structure has been almost completely opened up. Generous windows on both stories allow daytime sunlight and cooling night breezes to flow in as needed, while the brick walls have been whitewashed - contrasting with the dark-stained beams and supports, and the rich polish on the wooden floor. A broad strip of stone runs from the entrance to a framed doorway set into the opposite wall, with a sign above the lintel declaring that the baths are to be found that way.
The ground floor is sprinkled with tables and chairs of assorted sizes, offering welcome to guests both large and small. One whole corner of the building - into which guests are not permitted entry - has been given over to the kitchen, which serves as the domain of the famed monster chef Ligum Serforus. Mundane meals are available, but the chef delights in offering up obscure dishes made from the freshest of monster ingredients.
Opposite the kitchen a small bar runs in front of an array of shelves, displaying a broad selection of beverages (most of them alcoholic). The bar-top has been fashioned from what looks to have been old pieces of armor, fused and welded together before being polished to provide a near-smooth finish. Set above it, three human-sized statues have been built into an alcove in the wall: Tarien, Rada and Ceinara jointly keep benevolent watch over the room and its occupants.
To the right of the entrance, a small stage offers a platform for a handful of performers at a time. To the left of the door, a spiral staircase of wrought iron winds its way up to a balcony dining area, that is chiefly reserved for special events and parties.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing, in Order -=-=-=-=-=-=-= Sabina 5'4" 130 Lb Human Female Tsuran woman of dark hair and green eyes. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NPCs of Note -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Rupi Succubus Female A dangerous demon, Sabina's blood-pact partner. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
"I'm going to clean the alleyway. I need a half hour. Don't disturb me."
Rupi announces her intentions to the kitchen staff. She grabs a bucket, a dust bin, dust pan, a sack, and a large and small broom. Soap chips and water are thrown in the bucket and she heads out back. Just to be sure, she locks the kitchen door.
The choice of a warehouse for the Tarrace meant several entrances, and access. There's a wide lane behind it, for deliveries. It's clean-ish. Garbage piling up around an eatery is a bad look. It's certainly cleaner than the alleys around the dock warehouses. The Tarrace staff takes breaks here, to smoke or stand around and socialize. As someone who is out on the floor, dealing with customers, Rupi is accepted. As someone in a relationship with 'the boss', she's suspect, things said around her might filter up. Also there's a rumour she's supremely evil although no one has seen any evidence of that.
They might, were they to interrupt her 'cleaning'. She sets the gear against the wall of the opposite building, then stands and concentrates. The place starts to stink, smelling like a rat. A very large rat, the scent wafting and permeating. Rupi checks again, one end, the other end of the alley, she listens intently.
There's rustling noise, a nose with whiskers a-twitch, followed by a large and greasy looking black rat that crawls out of the warehouse the woman is leaning against. Her eyes snap towards it. She crouches, holding out a hand.
Cautiously, the rat advances. The other being in the alley looks dangerous, but smells divine, heady pheromones promising ultimate ecstasy overwhelm it's little rodent mind. It approaches near enough to be caught.
Rupi swiftly scoops it up, her hand moving with great speed. The rat tries to bite her, teeth unable to penetrate her skin. She stares at it, licks her lip.
The rat dies with a squeak in her hands. Its life force drained. The woman makes a short, sharp inhale of breath, and stares at the body. She flings it with great violence at the wall, another proven way to kill a rat, and it makes a small spatter and falls to the ground. The pattern of its blood, the damage to its body, hold her gaze. She's motionless, then she picks up the carcass and puts it in the sack, dips the broom in the soapy water and washes at the marks on the wall. Under her breath she mutters, "Where are you Sabina, what is happening to you. I need you."
Speak her name and she appears, briefly, passing by the alleyway entrance and heading for the main street and the true entrance to the Tarrace.
She's wearing a hooded cowl, but there can only be one person who walks about with a peacock on her shoulder. Or one hopes at least. There and gone from view in a heartbeat.
"Sabina?" Rupi is watching for witnesses, she caught the brief appearance of the Emperor and his perambulatory perch, the Tarienite. She has no doubt who she saw. She throws the washwater at the wall and turns off her scent attractants.
"Rupi chases after Sabina, calling her name, "'Bina-Beans! Sabina!" She rounds the corner, not panting. She forgets to make herself seem breathless with anticipation.
Bina stops just as she was about to enter the Tarrace and turns towards her voice being called. Her face covered in part by mask and cowl both. Her lips set in a neutral stance curl upwards into a soft smile. "Rupi." She opens her arms to welcome a hug. The bird on her shoulder shifting and spreading his wings briefly and flapping before settling down.
There is a hug, a very fast and firm embrace by a warm body that is there, who presses softly against the other woman and holds her tight. One hand slips to Sabina's lower back, resting over her hidden tattoo.
A squeeze, another squeeze. "I missed you. I was worried. The Tarrace is ok, your friends are ok, what happened? Why did they hold you so long?"
Rupi loosens the embrace enough to face Sabina, stare at her distorted reflection in the mithril mask, look past it to her eyes, and lick her lips which are close enough her warm breath can be felt when she says, "Do you want wine, a bath, to lie down? Also, greetings to you, Lord Emp, your perch inside awaits."
The bird seems to nod it's head and then hop-flap before walking sedately into the Tarrace with head held high. A strut if you will.
Bina chuckles softly as she's hugged and then meets the other's gaze with eyes that are red and tired beyond tired. "I missed you as well. They held me longer then I thought they might but we should head inside. We need to talk. But first, thank you for watching over the Tarrace." She stretches and places a kiss upon Rupi's brow. "Come.." She takes hold of Rupi's hand and tugs lightly, entering the Tarrace.
She notices, those eyes, the weariness. She's raising a hand to touch them when Sabina takes it to lead her inside. She follows. Her stride is unusual, normally she's affecting some manner of confidence, alluring motions, power. Her gait flickers through several mannerisms, as if she can't decide which one to present until ultimately she simply allows herself to be led.
She squeezes her partner's hand. "Chef Ligum had to be talked down, and one night Drinksy bought the whole place drinks, and scheduling the weekend was a mess as Jenna and Tobias are fighting and didn't want to be on the same shift, so I got a compromise..."
"This doesn't really matter, does it?"
Bina turns her head towards Rupi and shakes it, smile turned sad. "No. Not right now." SHe says softly.
She leads Rupi over to her customary table and sits down with a sigh like a traveler come home after a journey, patting the seat next to her and waiting for Rupi to join her.
"I told them about the pact. I had to, you know. A defusing of the situation before it starts? They thanked me. Asked me if I was going to continue with it and I.. told them I was because I believe that there is good within you. That one day you could find what we call a normal life and happiness here. They touted that as both foolish and admirable at the same time. Kept me for observation. For signs of influence or ..er.. 'decay'? And then this morning they told me to fix it or it would be fixed."
Rupi takes a seat, beside Sabina, close enough their thighs almost touch, would touch, if either woman moved just a little. She still holds Sabina's hand, and nods slowly. "You've been crying." She states.
Which doesn't bode well.
"I've made you unhappy, by existing." She watches, reading the tiny cues which tell her too much. She stares off at the wall, is that a better spot to look at, or worse. "I wanted to contact you. So badly." She taps at the side of her head, "I sent a note. That's it. I knew a long time wasn't a good sign."
The wall reminds her of the warehouse wall. She wonders how her brains would look, spattered against it. How long that mess would take to clean. Not long, most likely. Again, stating more than asking, she says, "You want to end the pact."
Bina sighs and shakes her head. "You've not made me unhappy, Rupi. That's not true. But if you stay here with me you're going to be killed. Bcause no matter how much you might be able to change, they'll only see you as a demon." She reaches over and gently puts her hand to Rupi's cheek. "I do not want to end the pact. And I'll leave it as your choice to do so or not. I refuse to give in to pressure from the temples. But here beside me you'll be hunted. Always be hunted. And even if we left this city I couldn't say that hunters wouldn't follow. I am no longer safe for you." Tears form and are hidden behind the mask. "And for that I am sorry."
"No, no... Sabina, don't cry." Rupi presses her cheek against Sabina's touch, her own hand going up stroke beside her eyes. She stares at the wetness in her partner's eyes as if it's a strange thing.
She knows about tears, how to use them as weapons. Seeing them when they're not, those leave her uncertain. It's the injury without intention that leaves her confused.
"Even if I left you, hunters might follow. Even if I was killed, still more might show up, believing that was a ruse, I wasn't really dead and you knew something. You'll never be free of me, they'll always say 'you trusted a succubus once'."
Her hand tightens, "I'm sorry. I would have been hunted, without you. I'm already hunted, I was in Hell, I am here. Infernals and Outsiders are not 'hail fellow well met', we kill each other for sport if we can get away with it. You... don't blame yourself."
"I wanted... I don't know. What do you want me to do?" The eternal succubus question.
Bina smiles, still touched with sadness. "I want you to make the choice, Rupi. I want you to know that someone in this world trusts you enough to make your own choice despite what you 'are'. I want you to find the happiness I described. I want you find love and to be loved like a mortal being again. I want you to prove them all wrong. But in the end those are the things that I want and not what you want."
"The real question is... what do you want."
"I don't want to die." Rupi says. 'I don't know' was her first answer, unspoken, possibly a lie. Deceptive to a degree. She stares at the statue of Tarien, the worshipers in front of him. Why, why didn't he stop her, why doesn't he get the joke.
Oh. That's the joke. See if a succubus can be forced to seduce herself.
"I don't want to be in pain." Another simple life goal of most organisms, likely true. Rupi smiles weakly, "I want to see what happens with us. I guess that's coming true."
She squeezes Sabina's hand again, "Submit or Die isn't much of a choice. They've eliminated 'run away together'. Are you sure this isn't another test of you? That there's no right answer I can give? They'll fix it for you if you don't do what they want? It feels like infernal power games."
Bina shakes her head slowly. "I told you, I would speak the truth with you. Her's the truth, Rupi. I have never once tested you. I've asked the questions that made you ask if things were a test. But I've never tested you myself. You were always testing yourself." Another sad smile. "Which is why I think you have the ability to change one day. And there are choices within those submit or die choices. Running away and breaking the pact would allow you freedom again. They couldn't use the pact to scry upon you. Running away will grant you freedom and they may scry using me. But I will fight them not too. Stay here and be hunted. Truely hunted. Not just by one but likely by many hunters. Or wait here for the hunters and either fight and die.. or submit and die. Not the best of choices but a few are there. And to be honest I want you to live."
It's there, a door to freedom, just break the pact. Vanish into the world amongst all the other minor demons and problems and perhaps be hunted, eventually, or not. Not as long as there is someone bigger, and there's always someone bigger.
Except, it would make all her appeals, before the pact, and her efforts to be good after it, a lie. Rupi is not being tested by Sabina but does have to ask herself what her intentions really were.
Some were not entirely pure. Most weren't, she is a succubus.
"You can't trust anything I say, Sabina. I'm full of lies and selfishness and cruelty. I enjoy what I am, and what I can do... and it feels so good." She says, staring at the mask, at her reflection. Her voice neutral and her face both attractive and ominous in its lack of expression.
"I tried!" Now there's emotion, "I tried so hard. Not to use my powers, not to interfere, not to make things worse. You don't know how tempting it is to mess around, stir the ants nest, watch everyone get upset and fight, to just feel the emotion in the air. Or just 'fix it' with a flick of my finger, all the staff problems, make them be friends. I talked it out, I pretended I was 'human', did it the hard way... because... you asked... because... there was nothing stopping me. Except me."
"I made a choice and I stuck with it." Except it didn't matter. "Protect the Tarrace and don't predate on anyone that comes here, don't threaten your relationship with Him, if I can't stop myself doing something, do it far away in a way it never gets back to you. Don't make anyone miserable. Help you with your dreams."
Her own rules summarized.
In reverse order of importance.
Bina keep the sad smile in place but her bottom lip trembles and betrays her emotions as Rupi's emotions come out to voice her frustrations. Tears flow and start to leak from under he mask. "I know. I know, Rupi. And I thank you so much for not only doing that but caring enough to do it. It's not fair that you aren't being rewarded for that now. It must feel like a punishment and I'm so sorry. So so sorry." Her voice catches and she chokes on her own words and falls silent. She takes a few breaths and manages to add, "You deserve better."
"Don't cry Sabina, don't cry." Rupi moves, hugging Sabina, holding her, feeling her emotions, having some of her own. She doesn't cry, herself. She's a lust demon, calculating in her specialty, emotions, lust, bonds and ties. She has very good control over what she expresses most of the time. Letting herself go or holding back would both be strongly influential. She isn't sure which would hurt Sabina more, or help her get her way.
She could just check... and yet, she doesn't.
"Is there anything else I can do? Convert to him, to.. Tar..rien?" She asks, "sit in a cell and do nothing and maybe you could visit me? It's another way of being bound..."
"I don't think they would believe anything I say, anything I promise. If I said 'I'd rather die than break my pact with you'." There, she said it.
Almost. 'If'.
"They'd think I was bluffing right up until they killed me, then after 'huh, guess she wasn't lying'." She holds Sabina in her arms, feeling her difficulty breathing, her halted words, the emotion. Feels her life. A lesser being than her, weak in many ways, vulnerable. Like the rat. Except, not.
She's the rat. "Don't cry Sabina. You gave me more than I deserved. I don't belong here. I'm poison and corrupting and I can't think of a meaningful change I could make fast enough and..."
Rupi looks at the walls, the Tarrace. "I got to live someplace that isn't Hell. That's something."
Bina wraps her arms around Rupi and sobs aloud, careless who may be around or not. Heads turn. Staff look to see what's going on. What must things look like from the outside? Bina doesn't care. All that matters is that this moment in time seems unfair and cruel. Life or death choices because of what one is rather then one's actions. And all the small victories Rupi was making each day..lost along with choice.
Her hands grip hold of Rupi's server outfit and ball into fists as she continues to sob.
Rupi holds onto Sabina, feeling her sobs, her emotion, knowing she's in pain. Sabina is not the first human she's held in her arms that's experienced strong emotion. She might not even remember how many she has. She is a demon, calculating and manipulative, instinctively seeing so many hooks and handles, ways to manipulate the Tarienite. Secrets shared between the seductive sisterhood, how to get her claws in, how to dominate, how to win.
Thoughts she wishes she could turn off, to answer what she really wants. To see if Sabina somehow got hooks in her. Rupi pretended to care. She pretend so well and for so long she fooled even herself.
Sabina does matter. Sabina matters to her. She was joking when she said Lust Demons are different, that they have big hearts, but they do immerse themselves in strong emotions. Once wet, it's impossible to get fully dry. It's why they have hierarchies, control and interfere with each other, to stop something taking root. Stamp out anything that might be growing that wasn't pure evil.
Rupi has been isolated for months, exposed to someone who actually cared about her, valued and allowed her choices. Allowed to think, and something changed. She's not sure what, or when, but she's sure.
She wants Sabina to stop crying.
"I'll go away, I'll sit in a cell, I'll stand there and die. I won't ask anyone to fight for me and I know I could get some. I'll wear binding bracers like a Djinni." Rupi hears her words, in disbelief. Where are they coming from? They go against her survival and nature, and yet... they come, "I'll do anything Sabina, please, stop crying."
Sabina tightens her hug on Rupi and tries at the same time to get a hold of herself. It takes some time. A full minute or more but the sobs stop and breathing becomes more normal. She pulls back from Rupi enough to look her in the eye. Red eyes and face a mess, wet with tears. "Don't die. Don't tell me that's what you want to do. Please. You're worth more then that."
She reaches up to pull her mask from her face and sets it on the table, wiping at her eyes with a forearm. Without the mask she looks a frightful wreck.
She looks back at Rupi and the trembling smile is forced back into place. "Lie to me if you have to. Tell me you're going to be ok. That you'll live. That you won't give up on yourself or at a chance for normal happiness."
Rupi takes up a napkin, and wipes at Sabina's eyes. She gently brushes the cloth along, over her cheeks, drying her tears. Working to clean up the mess she's made, silent, without emotion.
"I don't want to die." Rupi says, wondering if it's a requested lie. No, she's sure. She doesn't. Most things don't, unless they're broken. It would be a very broken succubus that wants to die.
"I want to see you smile. I want to see this place with happy people, you making your dream come true. It was ...fun." It was. She thinks over her little domain, her own plans, sees how it was too good to be true. Maybe Drinksy and Big White saw the writing on the wall, tried to hint. Oh well.
"Demons and devils have been trying to get in. The little ones I've been able to keep out. The Demon Duke, well I don't know where you met him but he met Jinks in the baths, chased Pinky and the Braelnoir into the kitchen. I put it together from what the staff saw." She wipes Sabina's nose with the napkin then sets it down, it's corrupted forever. She taps 'Bina on the nose with a finger, "You've been pretty bad at keeping the demons out."
A joke might help.
Rupi picks up Sabina's half mask and presses it onto her own face. She gazes back at the Tarienite, "I'll be ok. I'll live. I won't give up on myself or a chance for normal happiness. I'll break the pact and you'll never hear or see me again."
<OOC> Ashes says, "Rupi's bluff, to see how well she lies" GAME: Ashes rolls 1d20+27: (20)+27: 47 <OOC> Sabina says, "I think that works. :)" <OOC> Ashes nods, "Very convincing."
Bina starts to smile, one that continues to grow. She even laughs at the joke and is something akin to her normal self. She nods as Rupi starts stating her plans to continue on and not give up. She's fine until that last statement. And the tears reform in her eyes and threaten to fall.
"Ahh.. I hope that last bit isn't true. Come find me. Ten or twenty years from now when I've started to wrinkle and dry up. Come find me and tell me if I was right or wrong. Until then I'll pray for you...weather you want it or not. And think good things about and for you. Can you promise me that?"
For a moment the succubus simply looks at Sabina. She stares, her eyes piercing and unrelenting, looking the other woman over. Her attention alights on her mouth, the edges of her eyes, her hair, she factors all she knows in.
Someone watching would observe an odd sight, Rupi rapidly aging, her hair growing longer and getting streaks of grey, crows feet around her eyes, wrinkles growing at the edges of her mouth, fixing a permanent smile that's just a little bit sad. Crinkling on her neck, a roughness to her hands, her skin getting thinner.
A transformation that leaves Sabina facing someone who could be her mother, if she gave birth when she was very young, or herself twenty years from now. "I'll come see you when you look like this."
Suddenly she gets very fat, straining her server uniform in a bad way, "Or when you look like this if you have a slice of cheesecake every day."
Her pose is held for a moment, and then the change reverses before she pops the seams. She leans to hug Sabina again, a hand pressed over her hidden mark, rubbing in small circles. She gives her a kiss. Her full lips press against Sabina's, and nothing magical happens.
Which is a good thing.
"I'm keeping this." She taps at the Tarienite Mask, then smiles awkwardly, "aaand... your lingerie I have on right now. I stretched them out."
She stands. Long goodbyes are painful goodbyes, "Take care Sabina."
She thinks of a place, she concentrates, and she vanishes. Taking with her all the lies and deceptions that are her nature, leaving only the words.
"I love you."
Maskless, Bina chuckles even as she cries. Eventually the chuckles stop but the tears remain. She gets up from her seat and walks towards the steps and upwards to her small room. There she weeps in full. Long and hard where no one can see her. And then she falls asleep, dreaming of a time in the future. Many years from now.
OOC
The pact
<OOC> Ashes says, "She was also lying about breaking the pact, so she doesn't do that"
<OOC> Sabina nods
Pre-game
<OOC> Sabina hugs
<OOC> Ashes hugs
<OOC> Ashes says, "So I had a set in mind, and a few questions. Did you want to wait for someone else to get on, in?"
<OOC> Ashes says, "Should it be private?"
<OOC> Sabina says, "Can be either but we'll be talking about the pact and Rupi being a succubus"
<OOC> Ashes says, "In the sense of, random people can/can't wander in. Related to that, is it a Dark Log and can't be posted?"
<OOC> Sabina says, "It can be posted. :)"
<OOC> Ashes says, "Okay. Well if she starts going 'too somewhere' let me know."
<OOC> Ashes says, "Related, let me know if you want her doing/not doing something. Also is it fixed destination, no matter what the RP it ends up at the same place, or is the final result unfixed"
<OOC> Sabina says, "Semi-fixed"
<OOC> Ashes nods, "okay. Well doing the set, it'll take a few minutes.
Post-game
<OOC> Ashes hugs
<OOC> Sabina hugs tight
<OOC> Ashes says, "Well I had some tears. that was kind of painful. And a little mean, like when my SO made me RP breaking up some characters after we broke up RL. I gather that was one of the end options. I made some opening for the helm suggestion, or the polymorph idea but that wasn't something Rupi would imagine on her own."
<OOC> Sabina says, "I'm sorry. That was not my intent"
<OOC> Ashes says, "I know, it wasn't yours."
<OOC> Ashes says, "I wanted to RP the resolution, just the limited options wasn't great."
<OOC> Ashes says, "hopefully she was suitably outsider-ish and demony"
<OOC> Ashes says, "it's a bit of a challenge to justify a demon caring when they're usually babykilling or making statues out of people."
<OOC> Sabina says, "She was. And it's hard, yes."
<OOC> Ashes says, "Well she's older than average, so that helps justify a little, and the different environment. It seemed like it would make sense."
<OOC> Ashes says, "So hopefully the temples are happy."
<OOC> Sabina hugs
<OOC> Ashes hugs
<OOC> Sabina says, "For the future. Never feel like you have to RP out anything you don't want to with me. And for what it's worth I'm sorry someone forced you, or made you feel forced to do so in the past."
<OOC> Ashes says, "It's fine. It's nice to have the scene and the closure."
<OOC> Ashes says, "anyhow, sorry it messed you up to. So you still get to keep the Blood Pact benefits I guess?"
<OOC> Ashes says, "Like I'm guessing it was emotional your end, and hopefully not something unpleasant for you."
<OOC> Sabina says, "It wasn't unpleasant. It was sad, yes. But still good Rp because of those feelings."
<OOC> Sabina says, "Bina can keep the pact. There may be IC preasure later on for her to swap or break it but that's later."
<OOC> Ashes nods
<OOC> Ashes says, "Well that's good"
<OOC> Sabina says, "The first sobs of Sabina belong to Rupi."
<OOC> Ashes says, "Eep. Well, I'm sure she's not sure what to do with them."
Sabina grins
<OOC> Ashes says, "well hopefully you, Ygraine or Irshya will be around to keep things jumping"
<OOC> Sabina grins. "I thnk Bina is going to close down the Tarrace for a few days."
<OOC> Ashes nods, "A rumour or a Tribune report would be good for that. Worshippers forced elsewhere."
<OOC> Sabina says, "Oh.. Bina will put a sign out front. 'Closed for the week for normal buisiness. Demon hunters welcome.'"
<OOC> Ashes nods, "Do a rumour for sure, so people know
<OOC> Sabina will :)
<OOC> Sabina says, "Bina will sit and drink while in paper mache wings and some really bad fake horns."
<OOC> Ashes says, "heeee"
<OOC> Ashes says, "Yeah, I wanted them to do demon and angel pair for halloween"
<OOC> Ashes says, "or wolf and raven, or something"
<OOC> Sabina nodnods
<OOC> Ashes says, "did you like the rat bit?"
<OOC> Sabina nods. Insight in her 'day' and habits.
<OOC> Ashes nods, "Figured some of that needed to get on camera."