BC's Best... Cottages?

[bc56]

Quiet Moments
Sometimes, you just need a break. Especially if you're parents taking care of an increasingly unruly toddler and an injured teenager.
But Mary's spending time with her friends, and Aethelred is down for a nap. So Sekhmet and Prumathe finally have some time to themselves.
The demon queen is sprawled on the couch, a teacup in hand and a grimoire sitting open on her skirts. The TV is on, tuned to some news channel or other, but she's not really paying attention to any of those things, she's just happy to get some rest.

[Ironsmith]

Knocking at the Door
Sekhmet knows the succubi are hiding something. But she can't just leave them to get killed by Ilpholin. They were telling the truth about that much. "How much of your things are you bringing? And would you prefer to stay up here or down there?" She makes a vague gesture at the ground, but she means Hell. Hopefully that's clear.

[Knocking at the Door]

"I have a few dresses and a couple of other items I need to bring." Euphoria explains. "Stacy only has her guitar; everything else is on her person; she's already ready to go." Euphoria crosses her arms. "If at all possible, I would like to avoid either of us going to Hell for an extended period of time. That would be... counterproductive, all things considered."

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
"Right. I'll, uh, get a couple rooms ready for you up here," Sekhmet realizes she's going to have to explain having two... Well... Basically porn stars in their home. But she thinks he'll understand that protecting their lives is important and as long as they behave themselves it'll be fine.
Speaking of behaving themselves, "Uh, one other thing. If you're going to stay in the manor, you'll need to help around the house and grounds a little. Nothing huge, just, uh, cleaning up after yourselves and maybe helping with some of the chores the golems can't do."

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

"Not a problem. We already divied up a lot of housework between us. We can manage a few small changes there." Exstacy reassures her. "Especially if all you're asking is that we clean up after ourselves. I don't really have any laundry to speak of-"

"Sheets." Euphoria interjects.

"...Not much laundry." Exstacy corrects. "And not much of a bathroom mess, either. That's gonna leave maybe dishes and that's it. You won't even notice I'm here."

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
"Perfect then. I'll, uh, get things ready as quickly as I can." Sekhmet's trying not to think about that reminder that Stacy is technically naked right now even if she looks like she's wearing clothes.
It sounds like the Deathkiss members could either both go back to their other place to get their things, or they could split up with Exstacy staying here with Sekhmet while Euphoria gets her things.

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

"Good. I'll be back in an hour." Euphoria turns to leave. "And if I'm not, call Butterfly Bay Police Department. Or maybe our neighbor. Actually... definitely our neighbor."

"With the phone number neither of us has." Exstacy points out.

"It's [number]." Euphoria deadpans.

"...How the hell did you-"

"Trade secret. Just know I predate the telephone and got to see every step of its development."

"...Okay, that just raises more-"

It's too late. Euphoria's already leaving.

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
Sekhmet also predates the telephone, but she skipped over the intervening time. Up until a couple years ago, the most modern communications technology she knew of was the telegram.

Someone should tell her she doesn't have to end every sentence with STOP when texting.

"See you soon," Sekhmet says farewell to Euphoria and turns to Exstacy. "Come with me, we'll start getting rooms set up." She leads the way up two flights of stairs to the top floor. "We, uh, have a lot of space. More than we need, really. So here." She opens up a door to reveal a small bedroom, mostly unfurnished. There's a desk and a bed, but no pillows or sheets yet. "Feel free to, uh, put your... Things... Here..." Sekhmet realizes that Stacy doesn't really have any things halfway through that sentence. She blushes a faint black at the awkwardness. Not that there's a shortage of awkwardness. She can't look Stacy in the eyes without thinking about what happened at the party.

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

The awkwardness might be made either slightly better or slightly worse by the revelation that Exstacy does, in fact, have something on her; her phone, which she pulls out of the front of her "shirt", before undoing the charging cord she was wearing as a necklace and going to set it up to do the obvious.

For what it's worth, she doesn't seem to be quite able to meet Sekhmet's gaze, either. Albeit for... different reasons. The queen of the succubi might notice a bit more readily, now that there's nobody else in the room, that Exstacy has... well, the way she keeps stealing glances at parts of the queen that aren't her face might already be a dead giveaway, succubus-sense notwithstanding.

But with it, it's painfully obvious. Exstacy's entertained the idea of broadening her horizons beyond the band for a while now. And Sekhmet... well, one could hardly imagine a more tempting embodiment of that impulse.

...And she feels guilty for thinking it.

Sekhmet's been a gracious host. Euphoria and Melody have been great friends and better girlfriends. And they're in a crisis. This is the last thing she should be thinking about, if it merited space in her head at all. How ridiculously selfish does she have to be to even let the vague outlines of a fantasy build up in her head?

...But the way Sekhmet moved in their last encounter...

Exstacy breaks the awkward silence with the only slightly less awkward sound of biting through her nails. Anything to get her mind away from that subject.

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
Stacy can hardly be blamed for her "interest" in Sekhmet. The Queen of Succubi is in many ways an embodiment of lust and decadence and corruption, just filtered and watered down though... Well... Sekhmet.

So two beautiful demonesses stand in a room together, awkwardly not meeting each other's gazes. Finally Sekhmet breaks the silence properly. "I'll, uh, get sheets for the bed," And she exits the room. There's only a trace of that graceful, seductive, slightly predatory woman Stacy remembers in her gait... But it is there. Unless she follows Sekhmet, she'll be left alone with her thoughts.

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

Being left alone with her thoughts, especially when those are her thoughts, seems like an especially bad idea. If she follows Sekhmet, at least the worst she can do is put her foot in her mouth. She's not going to actually do anything if the demon queen has line-of-sight on her, as that would likely be met with hard disapproval. Besides, it's not like there's any entertainment in her room anyway. Her options would be to watch her phone charge (it was at five percent, no way she's risking an app), or sit on the bed and just...

...stare at the wall. Probably.

Riveting.

"...Actually, um..." Exstacy calls, scrambling after Sekhmet. "...I should probably come with. So I, um... know where everything is."

How uncharacteristically responsible of her. It'd probably be more convincing if she made eye contact while saying it.

"...Yeah. If that's all right." Exstacy re-affirms. "...You, ah, know what they say about idle hands, ha."

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
Stare at the wall? She could at least stare out the window instead. The room faces south, with a view of the driveway meandering its way through the jungle and a slight glimpse of the beach on the right.

But that's not what Stacy elected to do. Sekhmet considers. "All right..." She's aware something's up. She can sense that Stacy's thinking about her (or rather the aspect of her that she encountered at the party), but she'd rather not draw attention to the fact that she knows. Or think about it at all, really.
Out of the room and down to the end of the hall. The sheets are in a closet, along with towels and spare bathroom and cleaning supplies. "The washroom is, uh, right there for when you need it," Sekhmet indicates a door to the left of the closet. "Here's one set for you," she hands Stacy a set of sheets and a pillow, "And one for your friend," she carries a second set herself and starts heading back.

[Earl of Purple]

Quiet Moments

Prumathe's nominally paying more attention to the TV, as he is at least looking at it. But with Sekhmet's feet in his lap and an origami crane in his fingers, he's a little distracted. Prumathe enjoys the act of creation, but stonemasonry and carving is a lot of hard work and he needs rest. So he's making some origami animals to populate various surfaces around the place. His own cup of tea is perched on an end table next to the sofa, between an origami elephant and a copy of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World.

[Ironsmith]

Knocking at the Door
Stare at the wall? She could at least stare out the window instead. The room faces south, with a view of the driveway meandering its way through the jungle and a slight glimpse of the beach on the right.

But that's not what Stacy elected to do. Sekhmet considers. "All right..." She's aware something's up. She can sense that Stacy's thinking about her (or rather the aspect of her that she encountered at the party), but she'd rather not draw attention to the fact that she knows. Or think about it at all, really.
Out of the room and down to the end of the hall. The sheets are in a closet, along with towels and spare bathroom and cleaning supplies. "The washroom is, uh, right there for when you need it," Sekhmet indicates a door to the left of the closet. "Here's one set for you," she hands Stacy a set of sheets and a pillow, "And one for your friend," she carries a second set herself and starts heading back.

[Knocking at the Door]

That's two bedsets acquired!

And one elephant going firmly uncommented upon.

Exstacy's starting to wonder if maybe this was a mistake. Being around Sekhmet and having this whole weight on the back of her brain that can't even be mentioned is starting to feel a bit... restrictive. Granted, that had been the point, to keep her from doing something stupid, but she'd horribly underestimated how uncomfortable it would be. Surely her impulse control wasn't so bad she'd have to torture herself like this to keep from succumbing to it, right?

...Then again, it probably wouldn't be this bad if she had any at all. Euphoria was probably the most volatile person she knew and even she seemed calm and in control a majority of the time. Maybe Exstacy should take up pottery.

"...So. Um." Exstacy begins again, in an attempt to break the awkward silence and hopefully not let her mind wander again. "...You're, um, married, right?"

Smooth.

"I mean I've always kind of wondered about what that's like." Exstacy adds hastily, attempting to cover the blunder. "Being with one person forever till death does you part and all of that. Which I guess is a bit more of a commitment if one or both of you is immortal or already dead, right? It's kind of weirded me out. Like... who could actually do that? Every married couple I've known has fallen apart within a few years of getting together. You know, kinda come to resent each other but then be stuck with each other, which sucks. I can't imagine doing that to someone I care about."

Oh, well done, Stacy. Now you've gone and made it so much worse.

[bc56]

Quiet Moments
It looks like Sekhmet is going to happily doze off.

[Hello, cultists, summoners, and warlocks of all stripes! In today's uncertain times, you want occult information you can count on! I'm Donton Fentar,"]
["And I'm Wexley Alerope."]
["And we're your hosts on Demonology Today."]

"Hmmwha?" Sekhmet is snapped out of her daze by the sudden change in the TV's tone.

["What's our topic for today, Wexley?"]
["Believe it or not, today's topic is Thanksmas.]
["This week's show is for all of you thinking about going to the big public Thanksmas party at Brignole Manor."]

That finally gets Sekhmet's attention. "They're talking about our party?" It's only a few weeks away.

Knocking on the Door
Sekhmet frowns at those questions. She doesn't look angry, but very disappointed. "I'm not interested in you like you are in me, and I would appreciate it if you didn't make transparent attempts to damage my relationship with Prumathe." She sighs. "If you genuinely want answers to those questions, I can try to give them, but if not, please don't bring the subject up again."

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

Exstacy's eyes widen at that. "...I... I would absolutely not." She cringes, hugging the bedsets against her chest as though that would somehow alleviate the gunky feeling radiating through her body. "I didn't mean to imply... I'm sorry, I just wanted to ask a question but then it felt all weird to just leave it there and I ended up just... thinking out loud. Which wouldn't be that bad, if I wasn't a colossal fucking idiot."

The succubus looks away, rolling back and forth on her feet as though they'd been stuck full of pins. How did she manage to talk her way into this position? This never happened when the others were around. Hell, Euphoria could admit to actual murder and not get as bad a reaction. What was wrong with her?

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
Large numbers of corpses are a statistic. Implying that marriage is a cruelty is an insult.
Sekhmet sighs again. "Be more careful next time. Tact is the key to diplomacy." She sighs a third time. "To answer your question, a strong marriage is based on sacrifice. I'm willing to give almost anything up for Prumathe. I know he's willing to do the same for me. So even when we fight, and we do fight, we can still come together in the end, because whatever we fight over is less important than each other."

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

"...Must be nice." Exstacy mutters. She'd heard that one before, of course; it was in the top three canned responses to give in this kind of situation. She might even have called it a meme, if internet culture hadn't ruined that concept.

"...I, um... still have a hard time actually imagining that, though." Exstacy continues. "Like, sure, I guess any one thing can be put aside. It's whatever, right? Who can't give up picking tonight's movie or some dumb sh-... stuff like that?" She grimaces. "...But it always adds up. You start making concessions and you don't really stop making concessions. It's how things went with my-"

Oh, shit, that is way too much sharing.

"...first girlfriend." She quickly amends. "I could not go out on any particular night. Help her study. Pick different times to mess around with my guitar. Grab her some more shampoo while I'm out. Spot her twenty bucks until the end of the week. Decide not to hang out with the guys that weekend. You know, little favors like that. But she always wanted something else, and honestly? It got old. It got really old. I don't care what she could do with her tongue, it wasn't worth everything she was demanding in exchange." Exstacy's face turns bright red. "I couldn't have ever considered marrying her. I mean, can you imagine how much worse it would have been if we had years of that crap built up?"

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
"It sounds to me like she wasn't willing to sacrifice for you. Nor does it sound like your mind was entirely in the right place," It sounds like Stacy viewed the relationship as transactional, trading favors for curtaining, and Sekhmet doesn't approve of that either. She shakes her head. "I don't expect you to understand. True, sacrificial love can only be learned by experiencing it. And..."
"WAAAAAAAH!"
"Oh, uh, I should go check on that."
The crying is coming from downstairs.

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

"...Right. Yeah." Exstacy mumbles, shuffling aside to let Sekhmet through.

That was a bit of a cop-out. But in complete fairness, she did give Sekhmet a half-fabricated story to work with. She wasn't really talking about her first relationship per se, or even really getting into specifics. And the demon queen is still a mother, and that means tending to screaming babies.

...It probably wouldn't be a good idea to follow her. That sounds like a good way to put her other foot in her mouth.

Giving the bedsets one more heft to get them on her shoulder, Exstacy starts back toward her room, wondering if she's actually achieved anything in this conversation... other than convincing Sekhmet she wasn't quite the lovely innocent Euphoria hyped her up to be. Which was... not at all what she would have wanted to do in this situation.

Dammit.

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
Stacy, you naive succubus.
Sekhmet knew you weren't innocent the whole time. You're a demon, an erotic performer, and Sekhmet can sense the state of your sex life by looking at you (a power she wishes she could turn off). She never had any illusions about your innocence. It's a testament to her generosity that she even let you into a house that includes teenagers and small children.

The crying stops after a short time. Then footsteps ascend the stairs and pass down the hall and reenter the room. Sekhmet is carrying a toddler on her shoulders. Judging by the horns, red skin, and tail, this bouncing baby boy is a little demon prince. "Say hi to our guest," "Iiiiiii!"

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

Exstacy looks up as Sekhmet re-enters the room, just in time for her to finish tucking in the sheets; a process she'd deliberately done as slowly as possible, in an attempt to keep busy.

Fortunately for her, troublesome thoughts are no match for the sheer power of d'awww~

"Oh my god, he is precious!" Exstacy squeels enthusiastically, bunching her hands together over her chest. "Hey, little buddy! Hi!" She gives a little wave with one hand, keeping a comfortable distance from Aethelred and Sekhmet all the same. It was kind of a big show of trust for Sekhmet to even bring him in here; she's not going to screw up for the second time today by probing for the boundaries of her comfort zone.

"What's your name, little guy?" Exstacy croons, glancing back down at Sekhmet to suggest this question was actually directed at her. She gets the impression the prince isn't especially articulate just yet.

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
Wow, bring a child into the room and it's like Stacy is a completely different person.
"Effewe!" the toddler squeals and grabs at Sekhmet's horn. "He's Aethelred. After a king from my homeland." The demon prince gurgles. "Wea mawy?" "She'll be back tonight," Sekhmet tells her passenger.

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

"From your...? Oh, right." Exstacy baps her forehead and makes a "silly me" expression, playing up the gaffe for Aethelred's entertainment. "I guess that explains why the queen of hell has a British accent."

And here she thought that was just some kind of weird meta commentary from the universe.

"So he's... what, two, three?" Exstacy looks back up at the toddler, grinning as she watches him play with his mom's horns. "Hee... got some lungs on you, too, don't you?" She gives him a conspiratorial stage whisper, the back of her hand serving to amplify rather than muffle the sound. "Confidentially, I was just as loud at your age. Gave my da so many headaches. But I bet you're better behaved than that, right?"

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
"I'm not really, from Hell. Born there but not raised there, thank Fate." By all rights, Sekhmet should've been stuck with Sapphira her whole life, but somebody interfered.
"He's nineteen months," Sekhmet beams, "But he's a little precocious. Isn't that right?" She tickles her child under the chin. He giggles, which is about the most answer to that question he can give; there's no way he knows the word "precocious."

[Ironsmith]

]Knocking at the Door]

"Apparently, that's really common with baby demons." Exstacy says, taking a seat on her bed. "At least in terms of social development. The reviews I've gotten... I had one lady tell me she thought I could stand to make some of my stories more mature, since her two-year-old was already politicking but couldn't really count yet. She had some... interesting stories to share, in that regard." Exstacy grimaces. "I don't think I'll be taking her advice, though. It's a big multiverse out there. Gotta write stuff Aethelred, Szyk, and Belphagor Junior can all enjoy, you know?"

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
Sekhmet considers Stacy's statements. There's something odd about them. "Reviews... Your stories... You write children's books?" The demon queen is genuinely surprised. That doesn't seem like an activity the Deathkiss member would be at all interested in.

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

"Well, just the one so far." Exstacy says with a little shrug. "The Littlest Imp. I kinda kept my demon name off it in case any parents or kids decided to Moogle it. That would... probably be an awkward situation for mom and dad to be in." She grimaces. "Can you imagine? 'Gee, I really like what this A.K. Ariti lady did with this book, I wonder if she has any others?' And then... well. You get the idea. And that goes in the other direction, too. Not exactly good marketing to put it under the DEATHKISS label. Because when I think DEATHKISS, I think picture books for preschoolers."

[Earl of Purple]

Quiet Moments

"I reckon they are talking about our party. Makes sense, though. I mean, we'll be hosting and opening it to an awful lot of people. I should make sure we've ordered enough refreshments for it." They've got plenty! But Prumathe still worries about it. It's something he can control, even if imperfectly.

[bc56]

Knocking at the Door
"You wrote that book?" Sekhmet looks even more surprised, "I own a copy, I read it to Aethelred." She didn't think to look the author up online because what she knows about the Internet could fit into a digital thimble.
She might go get the book, depending on Stacy's reaction.

Quiet Moments
["So as with any party hosted by summoners, or in this case, demons, we can expect to see a few notable occult personages, right Don?" ]
["Right. Most importantly, we have the hostess, Queen Sekhmet Brignole of the Scorching Depths,"]
The screen shows a picture of Sekhmet on it. It's an odd photo, showing a goofy smile on her face but also at an angle that emphasizes her supernaturally curvy figure. The effect makes her look rather ditzy.
"Where did they get that picture?" she wonders.
["Voted 'Most Huggable Archfiend's by our viewers last year,"]
"Awww,"
["But don't that fool you. One look at her figure betrays that there's a veritable goddess of lust under that kindly demeanor."]

Sekhmet frowns at the screen. She doesn't like them bringing that up. Her succubus urges are limited to her private time with Prumathe and she'd rather not have other people commenting on them.

["Are you sure you should say that? It's not wise to offend a demon queen and we know she doesn't want to be seen that way,"]
["She probably doesn't watch our show. Besides, what's she going to do, turn us into women?"]

"I could," Sekhmet comments to Prumathe, "But honestly they're not worth the effort. Besides, I don't want to get a reputation for cursing people who say something about me that I don't like."

[Ironsmith]

[Knocking at the Door]

"You do?" Now it's Exstacy's turn to look surprised. "I... wow. Okay." She lets out a nervous laugh, her cheeks turning a little pink. "Let me... just take a moment to process that."

The succubus turns away from Sekhmet, cupping her hands over her mouth and squealing excitedly. "Oh my god, the actual queen read my book!" She crows to herself.

Sweet, sweet validation.

Exstacy turns back to face Sekhmet, nervously playing with her hair. "What do you think? Do you like it? What's your favorite part? Ooh, does Aethelred like it? Does he have a favorite story? Did you like the characters? Do-"

Exstacy cuts herself off, face still flushed. "...Sorry. I'm just... holy heck."