BC's Best... Cottages?

[Earl of Purple]

Quiet Moments

"It won't matter anyway, this is probably pre-recorded. They could have said this days ago, and randomly growing boobs now won't really provide them with any clue as to what they did." It might not be pre-recorded, but they could also have wards or other defences up that'd make them trickier to curse like that. They do host a show about demonology, after all; it'd be foolish not to have some defences.

"We should find out if Most Huggable Archfiend comes with a certificate, get it framed and hang it up in the hallway. I'd have voted if I watched last year." Maybe he did, and can't remember. But that's certainly a decoration that'd get Mary embarrassed.

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
"It's good. I, uh, don't think I'm really qualified to judge the literary merit of children's books, and I don't think he's old enough to completely understand, but, uh, he seems to like the pictures." Sekhmet replies. She's being genuine, and trying to be complimentary, so she doesn't bring up "completely unlike anything I'd expect a demon to write." That probably wouldn't go over well.

Quiet Moments
"Oh, uh, right." It could be live TV, but the two of them have no way of knowing.
Sekhmet giggles at the suggestion. "We could write the TV station?"

["And for the younger segment of our audience, the second most powerful demon that'll be there is, of course, her daughter,"]
A picture of Mary is shown. It's very clearly one from when she was possessed by Sapphira; her style of clothing is... Distinctive.
["She really takes after her mother in looks but not in personality, so any high school aged cultists, consider dropping her a summons."
Now Sekhmet is furious. You can almost see steam coming out of her ears. The temperature around her is rising. "I'm ready to curse them now," she growls. It's one thing to treat her that way, quite another to do so to Mary. The poor girl's got enough to worry about without these people encouraging kids to summon her in the hopes of getting deflowered.

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

Exstacy's enthusiasm fades a bit at the faint praise, her smile toning down from "giddy" to "polite". Somehow she'd been expecting more than that... but Sekhmet had a point. She wrote a children's book, not War and Peace. Asking for feedback beyond "yes I read this to my child" was sort of unreasonable.

"Right. The... the pictures." Exstacy manages to turn her smile back up a bit. "I'm glad he likes them. I did all of those with an ink pen... you know, one of the old-timey ones. They work really well for giving it that swooshy kind of look, you know?"

...

Wow. And here she thought she could avoid embarrassing herself again. "Swooshy"?!

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
Sekhmet doesn't look at all like she thinks Stacy's word choice was bad. "Swooshy" is a fine word.
"That must've been a lot of work," she says. "My daughter is something of an artist herself," Maybe Stacy noticed the paintings hanging throughout the house... Or maybe she was too busy noticing Sekhmet.

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

Sekhmet was rather distracting, yes. For a plethora of reasons.

"Oh, those are hers? I thought you bought them from-" Exstacy cuts herself off, deciding not to list any particular store. If she implies it's professional-level work, it's probably still a compliment, albeit a somewhat accidental one.

"...They're quite nice." She tries again, turning to give one of the aforementioned paintings more attention, in the hopes she could find something more specific to compliment. "...Very, um... solid technique. Good palette. Composition is, um... unique."

There she is with the taste of foot in her mouth again.

"How long's she been at it?" Exstacy asks, trying to move away from the apparent blunder.

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
Wow, Exstacy must really like the flavor of her toenail polish.

Sekhmet doesn't seem to notice though. "Five years? Six? She's been painting since long before I, uh, adopted her." How much does Stacy know about Sekhmet's family? If she's ever seen pictures (maybe on the news or more likely in a tabloid), the adoption comment might come as a surprise; Mary looks very much like both her adoptive parents. Then again, they're shapeshifters, maybe it's not all that surprising.

The paintings are mostly landscapes. Many depict a mist-shrouded mangrove forest, others parts of Inside, and a few show hellish volcanic landscapes. There are a few still lives as well. Mary is a prolific artist, and talented for her age.

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

Exstacy's eyebrows shoot up at the adoption comment. Evidently, she hadn't heard the news. Or she had and it'd slipped her mind. It was hardly her biggest priority before today. "Oh. Er... congratulations?"

A bit late for that, it seems.

As she looks over the paintings, Exstacy finds herself drawn to the mangroves. She isn't entirely sure why at first, but as soon as she has a second to think about it, it occurs to her that they're odd out for the paintings; Mary's likely painting from life, and while she could reasonably expect that the young succubus might visit Inside for various reasons and the volcanic hellscape is essentially her backyard, the swamp doesn't have as ready an explanation.

...That probably isn't important, though. And not her business even if it is.

"...She really is pretty good." Exstacy notes, with a little more sincerity this time. "Better than I was at her age. I never really quite got perspective, you know?"

[Earl of Purple]

Quiet Moment

"Fixgerald, the phone and phonebook, if you please." Prumathe's face has gone stony, and he holds a hand out as one of the butlers- a stone-carved figure with one arm- hands him the phone and the chunky book below it. Prumathe taps the book, which is slightly animated and opens itself at the right page for the television station as he starts to dial a number to call the television studio. "If you still want to curse them, you'll have my support honey. They'll apologise I'm sure, once I've explained things." Prumathe's angry, but he's not shouting. He's too angry for that.

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
The explanation is a lot simpler than it looks, and if Exstacy were to ask Mary about it, she'd get an honest answer immediately. It's no secret.
But Mary's not here right now.
"I, uh, know I can't do anything like what either of you do," Sekhmet admits. Nigh-infinite magical power is no substitute for skill.

Quiet Moments
Sekhmet nods. "I know," He's always standing with her. She focuses her power. "Tell them they don't get to debase my daughter or me like that and they'll get their, uh, man parts back when they record three shows in these forms and a public apology to us."
On screen, the two hosts' bodies begin to change. Their hair grows long and lustrous, their faces soften and lose all traces of beards or mustaches. Their arms and legs become slender and elegant, and of course, their bodies morph into voluptuous, feminine forms. Their clothes aren't spared either, becoming the sort of stylish yet serious dresses you would expect female newscasters to wear (and high heels, but the camera angle doesn't capture that).
"And ne... Eeek!" One host grabs her breasts in surprise, then releases them and screams, a piercing high-pitched noise in her new voice. The other looks uneasily up at the ceiling as if someone is watching from on high. "I was joking about turning into women!" she protests.

I guess it is a live show after all.

[Earl of Purple]

Quiet Moments

"Hello? Is this the television studio for Demonology Today? You may have noticed a sudden change with the hosts. I'm Prince Consort Prumathe Brignole, Queen Sekhmet's husband and the father for Princess Mary. I'd like the hosts to apologise and retract their comments about SUMMONING MY UNDERAGE DAUGHTER! My wife and I, we're big fans of free speech but comments that debase any member of my family, especially live on television, are not appropriate or appreciated. My wife informs me the curse is temporary. A public apology and they host the next three episodes of this show as they currently appear. So that's, what? Three weeks like this?" Prumathe doesn't know the television schedule; if it's a daily show it's less time than that. If it's a monthly one, they're screwed, but not as screwed as if this is the final episode of the series and it hasn't been renewed.

[bc56]

Quiet Moments
"Um, sir?" a timid voice answers the phone, "I just handle the phones. If you'll, um, go on hold, I can, um, get someone who knows what's going on?" The poor girl is terrified of the angry nobleman on the other end.

Meanwhile the TV show has abruptly cut to commercial.

[Earl of Purple]

Quiet Moments

"Oh, of course. I'm sorry for shouting at you; I'm angry, and it's not your fault. You didn't deserve that." Prumathe is genuinely sorry, as well. He shouldn't have let his anger vent until he was talking to somebody responsible.

[bc56]

Quiet Moments
"Thank you sir. Please hold for a minute. And, um... Off the record... Could you ask your wife if she could make me beautiful?" That's an awkward question, but Sekhmet is a queen of succubi and people know it.

[Earl of Purple]

Quiet Moments

"What makes you think you're not beautiful already? But yeah, I can ask." This is not just Prumathe trying to reassure the receptionist/phonegirl, but also if he can find out what she's not happy about he can perhaps ask. He's also going to put his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and turn to his wife. "The reception lady's asking if you can make her beautiful, off the record."

[bc56]

Quiet Moments
"I'm short... Small... You know. But I need to get someone for you to talk to." Prumathe is put on hold.

When Prumathe relays the request, Sekhmet frowns. "I don't like just doing that. Changing someone's body has a lot more consequences than just making them look different." She just changed those two hosts without much thought but evidently she thinks these circumstances are different. "I can't do it anyway. I'd need to be able to see her."

[Ironsmith]

Knocking at the Door
The explanation is a lot simpler than it looks, and if Exstacy were to ask Mary about it, she'd get an honest answer immediately. It's no secret.
But Mary's not here right now.
"I, uh, know I can't do anything like what either of you do," Sekhmet admits. Nigh-infinite magical power is no substitute for skill.

[Knocking at the Door]

Exstacy sucks her teeth and lets out a small, sympathetic "aw". Before she knows what she's saying, the words come out, with a measured, even tone that implies she's given this line before, or at least rehearsed it.

"Sure you could. It only takes practice."

...Probably not the best response to what's intended to be a compliment, but now that it's out there she should probably elaborate.

"We're, ah, not really big on the idea that anybody can't be an artist." She continues, weaving her fingers together. "Since when you get down to it, it's all about expression. Getting a message or a thought across. And everyone has thoughts that are worth sharing." She smiles and shakes her head a bit. "If a dropout nymphomaniac and a teenager can make art, so can you."

...

For some reason that one tastes less like foot.

[Earl of Purple]

Quiet Moments

"Right, OK. I'll... let you go, then." Which is mostly said to hold music. "I'm on hold. She's short and small, she says." Sekhmet turning the receptionist into a figure of Felandrine proportions would not likely help their problems going forward, and need a whole new wardrobe. Plus maybe a new house.

((Sekhmet! You're a blacksmith, you can make art that way- and Pontius would have focused you more on smithing-as-sculpture than smithing-as-tools, since sculptures are easier to make into golems.))

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
((Sekhmet meant just drawing and painting, Earl, she's aware that she can make metal sculptures and sing a little. And her succubus-self can sing even better and has picked up a variety of forms of exotic dance that the rest of her is too embarrassed to even consider trying.))

"Thanks, but I'll, uh, manage without it. I don't have time, really." She's got her hands full being a full time queen and a mother.
"Uh, how long has it been? Should your, uh, friend be back soon?"

Quiet Moments
"She'd have to meet with me in person but..." Sekhmet considers. "I don't like doing that sort of thing. I don't want people to think they can just ask to be transformed like that or I'll be flooded with requests. But height is one of the, uh, less disruptive options." If one of Sekhmet's close friends asked to be transformed, there'd be a lot less explanation necessary but a complete stranger? That's going to take convincing.

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

"It's okay. You can call her my girlfriend. That's not really inaccurate so much as imprecise." Exstacy beams, still riding the high of managing to get some positivity out, before Sekhmet's words really hit her. "...But... yeah, she should be back by now. Let me just..." She pats at her chest briefly, before seeming to realize that, no, she left her phone in the other room. "...Right. I'll just... go call her real quick."

And with that, she's out of there.

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door... Later
Euphoria does get back unharmed.
Dinner is eaten, the infant demon prince makes a mess of his food, and after a while of getting to know the Brignole family, night falls and everyone goes to bed.

But that's not the end of the night for Exstacy, because someone decides to step delicately into her dreams.
It's Sekhmet, but not as she appeared today, but as she was at the party, in all her seductive beauty. If the succubus queen was already part of the dream, she'll take the place of that avatar, otherwise she'll step gently through the border of the dream as if passing through a waterfall. If there was no dream at all, one will form around her, taking a shape derived from Stacy's subconscious feelings about Sekhmet.

[Ironsmith]

[Sleeping Soundly]

"...fucked up THAT badly! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Stace? Why are you looking at me like that? I don't like it..."

"...st like your mother! You useless, worthless piece of-"

There's still nothing to be seen, but there's plenty of strong smells... smoke, alcohol, cheap perfume, in no particular order or with any particular distinction from one another.

"Oh, you poor thing... you didn't deserve all of this. But I know how we can fix it..."

"...I'm glad it was you. You know, for the, um..."

Now visuals are starting to come through. The details are obscured, but there's a definite rhythmic, pulsing motion running through the dream, through a two-toned swirl of color that fades away as quickly as it came.

"...Miss? You all right?"

"Two, three, four!"

Finally, there's something to see. The dream solidifies into a small theater, marked with upholstery that would normally be seen in Sekhmet's palace; in fact, apart from the fact that she hadn't had a stage in this particular spot, the whole room seems to be a spitting image of the hall she'd opened up for her party. Or at least, what that hall would have been if it was also a mosh pit. Exstacy herself is up on stage, holding an electric guitar- no, bass- that just barely manages to tastefully cover her pelvis, which is fortunate as she doesn't have anything else on her. Behind her, the other three members of DEATHKISS are dutifully performing their parts; Malady has a guitar of her own, Mania's... drumming, to put it cleanly, and Euphoria is stoically tapping out chords on her keyboard. In front of her, the pit is filled with succubi and incubi, who all at once seem to be laughing at her, cheering her on, and leering at her.

Whether Sekhmet is doing any of the above is at her sole discretion.

[bc56]

Sleeping Soundly
Sekhmet sits silently in the audience until the song begins to come to an end.
Slowly she stands up, and as she does so, she exerts her will on the dream. The audience and the other band members fade away. The Queen of Succubi is clad in dark but airy garments that do absolutely nothing to hide her succubosity and look like they would dissolve into nothing in a strong wind (they seem to literally be made of smoke). She hums the last few bars of the song.
"Hi Stacy." she smiles. "It's been a while."

[Ironsmith]

[Sleeping Soundly]

Exstacy barely reacts as the dream fades from the one scene to the next, leaving her alone with the succubus queen with nothing but a guitar for modesty.

Her demeanor does change just a bit when she notices what the dress is made of, and the dream slips around under Sekhmet's grip, like bubbles of oil on the surface of water.

The stage shifts to a large bed (queen size, naturally), the succubi both being left to lay on it. Exstacy looks up at the headboard, as though expecting to see something unusual there, and sure enough, her left wrist is cuffed to the bedpost.

"...Shit. Not again." Exstacy swears as smoke starts to fill the room. "Do we at least get to make out or something?"

[bc56]

Sleeping Soundly
"I can't stay long." Sekhmet sits up on the edge of the bed. Her smoky garments have been replaced by something more appropriate to the scenario. "If I do too much the rest of me will notice and they'll clamp down on my independence."
The demon queen is putting the pieces together already. This must be how Stacy died originally. Unfortunately she's going to disappoint the other succubus' request for now. "I'm mostly looking for a chance to talk. I don't get as much control when I'm awake."

[Ironsmith]

[Sleeping Soundly]

"Preaching to the choir." Exstacy snarks, sitting up as the bed morphs to a leather bus seat, the window on the wall next to them (that was definitely there before, neither of them can prove it wasn't) showing a cityscape speeding by, partly obscured by rain and the cover of night.

"So what exactly did you want to talk about?" Exstacy asks, sitting cross-legged on the bus seat. "I mean it has to be important, right? If you're coming to me like this?"

[bc56]

Sleeping Soundly
"I was hoping for some closure for both of us," the queen replies. "I know you still want me. And I'm in your debt because you got the rest of me to shut up, stop worrying, and just have fun for once. But the best I can do is offer you one last dance." She looks out the window at the featureless city, letting the streetlights play across her face as she sighs, her hot breath fogging the glass.
"Mother made me to be the perfect succubus. But I'm restrained by these other selves that have different ideas about morality and propriety. And because of them I enjoy things Mother could never dream of. I'm respected instead of feared, I'm loved instead of lusted after... But it means I, the perfect succubus part of me, have to stay quiet and not rock the boat."

[Ironsmith]

[Sleeping Soundly]

"...I'll say it again." Exstacy sidles up next to the demon queen, nestling into her side. "I know exactly what you mean. No hate to either of our other halves, but sometimes they can be so..." She pauses, racking her brain for the right word, several candidates for which appear on billboards as they drive past. "...not prudish, exactly. But they get in the way, and it's not even really their fault."

She leans into the demon queen a little more, one arm going behind her as she hugs her around the waist. "...So, sure. One more dance. So we can both stretch a little before going back in our respective boxes."

[Earl of Purple]

Quiet Moments

"Well, I'm still on hold. So I can't actually tell her that yet. I... do feel a bit bad for yelling at her, though." He's apologised, but it's still not really something he's proud of. Doing something like this would make him feel better, even if it's not entirely warrented. "Ultimately up to you, though. It's your power and abilities, not mine." Even if he's arranging a meet up for them so the receptionist lady can make her request.

[bc56]

Sleeping Soundly
All forms of Sekhmet love hugs, so the succubus queen gladly returns the gesture of affection.
Then she stands up, spins around on her heels, and offers her hands to Exstacy. "Let's take advantage of our current freedom and dance until dawn." Hopefully Stacy's subconscious can provide an appropriate venue. The inside of a bus doesn't have nearly enough space.

Quiet Moments
"If you think I should..." Sekhmet concedes. "When she gets back on, uh, let her know that she should call this number from her, uh, personal phone after work and I'll, uh, talk to her about it."

Speaking of which,
"Sir? Are you still there?"

[Earl of Purple]

Quiet Moments

"Yes, I am. Call this number back when you're off shift, my wife will discuss it with you." Prumathe won't recommend the personal phone thing; he trusts the receptionist not to be daft enough to use the office phone, and doesn't want to pressure her into not using a payphone in case she doesn't have a personal phone for whatever reason.