The Scorching Depths

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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Classroom

Sekhmet sighs. "I, uh, guess you'll never be able to use fire," She turns away from Miranda to hide her smirk. If fear and anger won't work, maybe the burning determination to prove her instructor wrong will get Miranda over the edge. For a moment, she focuses on Mary instead. The princess is an unsightly mixture of cat and demon parts. "Mum, I tried, but it's really hard without a reference, sorry." "It's okay. Here, hold still." Sekhmet gestures, and Mary's body stiffens and shrinks into a black cat with a gold chain around her neck. Mary sits back on her paws and, looking at Sekhmet, says, "Meow?" "Right. Uh, next work on getting your voice back."
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Classroom]

"...'Never' is a strong word." Miranda mutters, crossing her arms. "I mean, sure, I'm probably behind most other pyromancers that got their powers a few weeks ago, but I'll get the hang of it at some point." She frowns. "...Side note, that was an obvious one. Insultingly so. I don't think you could have been more transparent about trying to piss me off if you tried."
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Classroom
Sekhmet sighs, for real this time. "You're right. I don't know what I could do. You're very good at controlling your emotions, but fire is by nature uncontrolled. Maybe we should just work on theory until your shapeshifting is recovered?"
The problem is, she's too nice. She could easily put Miranda in real danger, or psychically force emotion onto her, either of which would make it easier.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Classroom]

"...I suppose we'd better." Miranda agrees, lowering her hands. "...Alternatively, maybe we should focus on your daughter for a minute. It looks like she's going to need a little more hands-on assistance here."

And no, that's not just an excuse to pet her. That would be just weird.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Classroom

"Meow!" Mary agrees. "She can turn back to normal whenever she wants," Sekhmet explains, "She's choosing not to. Okay Mary. Don't worry about how your mouth moves. Just assume you can talk." Mary yawns and stretches. "I got it figured out a second ago, mum." Mary says, "That meow just, um, slipped out." "Uh, good. How do you feel?" "Fuzzy." Mary lifts up a paw and looks at it.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Classroom]

"That tracks." Miranda smirks and gives Mary a playful little scratch behind the ears. Partly because she's a cat now and that's just what one does with cats, but also as a way to quietly test how much instinct came with the new body. "All right. Let's see about that theory, then. It might be a bit before I can apply it, but who knows? Maybe knowing will help. Somehow."
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Classroom
Mary leans into the scratching and purrs, then suddenly pulls away looking embarrassed that she just did that. Sekhmet laughs. "Don't worry, Mary. When you're a cat, it's okay to act like one." She turns to Miranda, thinking she can get a little teaching out of this before she starts on the denser stuff. "I think it's important for shapeshifters to try out forms that are drastically different from their natural ones. It helps train flexibility and gives more options if they're ever in a pinch. Being transformed by someone else is a, uh, good shortcut to learning a new form. It's why it's, uh, so easy for you to take on a succubus' appearance." With that said, the fiendish queen erases the math notes from the blackboard so she can begin the theory lesson.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Classroom]

But, presumably, she's not necessarily limited to a succubus' appearance. Handy information to have.

Miranda reclaims her seat and is thereafter attentive, watching everything Sekhmet does, taking down every word from the blackboard and holding onto everything that's said. One can only imagine what her Academy days must have been like.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Classroom
Sekhmet goes on to describe the basics of magical theory - the understanding of the soul (or life force? It's not entirely clear) as a power source, the difference between innate and ritual magic (Innate magic draws directly on the user's soul, their creativity, and strength of will, whereas ritual magic draws on the symbolic connections between objects and materials to tap into ambient magical energy). She mentions a few historical mages (a few of which may be familiar names to Miranda - Isaac Newton, for instance). Finally, she sets down the chalk.
"I, uh, think that's all of that I have for today. I'm not sure if your shapeshifting has recovered yet. If it has, we could do that again, or we could, uh, call it quits for now."
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Classroom]

"Let me check." Miranda taps her fingers to her throat and tries the subtlest shift she knows, which would alter her larynx to give her the husky, sultry voice she has as a succubus. "Testing, one, two... nope, that still sounds like regular human me." She confirms, giving a little shrug. "Oh, well. I'll get there eventually." She smiles and stands up, closing her notebook and extending her hand to Sekhmet. "Good session today. Same time tomorrow, right?"
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Classroom
Sekhmet nods. "Of course. I'll see you then." She opens the portal to let Miranda back out to GLoG. Mary, returned to normal from her feline form, waves goodbye
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Palace
Sekhmet and Miranda step through the portal into the hallways of the palace with the lead case containing Sapphira's artifact in hand. "I, uh, don't like this, but she can take care of herself," Sekhmet would rather not have left Charcoal behind. "While we wait, let's go down to the vault. It will be safest to open this thing there."
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Palace]

"It'd be safer not to open it at all." Miranda points out, shucking her jacket as the weather takes a turn for the unreasonably hot. "And I would think that'd be especially true here. Your mother used to run this place; is it really a good idea to expose her directly to it?"

Miranda doesn't quite understand all the mechanics of how the Scorching Depths work and its connection to its queen, but she does know enough to know that what she doesn't know could be important. And Sekhmet's decision to attempt to recreate the artifact already seemed suspect... more so the closer she gets to making an attempt at it and the more the petty details of the proposal make themselves apparent to her.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Palace
"Well, yes," Sekhmet admits, "But we wouldn't learn anything. And besides. I'm queen now. Her power, though great, is much less than mine." Just another reminder of how dangerous Sekhmet could choose to be: even this pale fragment of Sapphira was terrifyingly powerful. Don't worry about it
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Palace]

"How certain of that are you?" Miranda challenges. "Because if there's a learning experience here, potentially, the entire plane could suffer for it. She gestures at the cylinder. "I still say you should just destroy it. It can't be worth the risk."
Last edited by Ironsmith on Feb 13, 2023 10:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Palace
"Miranda, I have to do this. But you don't have to be at risk. You can go." Sekhmet is adamant. She needs this power, even if she doesn't explain why.
Will Miranda stay with her friend and face the risk of Sapphira's reemergence? Or play it safe, but possibly leave Sekhmet to face danger alone?
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Palace]

"No, you have to breathe and eat. You want to do this. Very badly, from what I gather, but nothing you've said implies that this is strictly necessary." Miranda clamps her hand down around the top of the cylinder and gives Sekhmet a little glare. "What's so important about this thing? What's stopping you from opening a portal into the heart of a supermassive star, chucking the last remnants of Sapphira in, and watching it dissolve into radioactive plasma?" She frowns. "Given that I nearly died twice and did die once retrieving it for you, I feel I have a right to know."
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Palace
Actually, she doesn't have to do either of those things, remember?
"This thing could literally save me from..." She freezes. "You... Died?" She had no idea. None at all.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Palace]

"We'll come back to that. Don't worry about it just yet." Miranda puts her hands on her hips. "Literally save you from what? What are you still so afraid of, Your Highness?" Despite the harshness of her tone, the expression on Miranda's face is one of concern; it must be something awful Sekhmet has to deal with, if she can have the assets of an entire plane of existence at her disposal and still be afraid of it.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Palace
"From, uh, all this," Sekhmet gestures around her. "Being trapped down here, separated from my family. Right now, all someone has to do is run a silver blade through my heart and I'm trapped here forever." Not quite forever. She could be summoned back. But given her level of power, summoning her into the world anew would require a significant sacrifice, and not of a pleasant sort.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Palace]

"...And?"

Miranda gives Sekhmet an unrelentingly skeptical look. "That's it? You're afraid of dying?" She asks, hands on her hips. "Sekhmet, that's something the rest of us have to deal with every day. And it's not limited to something as specific as a silver knife; I could die from falling out of my pod tomorrow. And then, on top of that, instead of being whisked away to some other afterlife or into oblivion, you're... going to a realm you already rule."

The sort-of succubus gives her an unimpressed frown, which slowly gives way to a tired one. "...Look. I get it. The idea of being forced to leave your loved ones behind... it's scary. Even if the context isn't death, knowing at some point that you might never see them again..." She lets out a morose little sigh. "...I'll admit I'm a bit dulled to it. I've already left my family behind. As far as they're concerned, I'm dead. I've had a chance to move on. But you... you haven't. You haven't needed to." She looks up at Sekhmet and takes hold of the cylinder. "...I don't know a whole lot about Sapphira. But the fragment of her in there... she could smell weakness. If you go into this fearing for your own life, she can and will use that against you. Make sure you're going in there for the right reasons."
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Palace
"Miranda, this is still Hell. I rule here, but it's a gilded cage. And without an artifact like this," she shakes the canister for emphasis, "The only way I could see my family again is if someone sacrificed people's lives to call me briefly back." Her hand tightens on the sealed lid and she fixes Miranda with a steely gaze. "I will not leave them." The seal begins to glow red-hot.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Palace]

"The only way I can see my family again is a particularly vivid daydream."

Miranda maintains her own grip on the cylinder, stoically holding it despite the smoke rising from her hand and the scent of burning flesh. She continues to stare at Sekhmet a moment, before finally releasing the cylinder, curling her fingers over her palm. If she keeps fighting Sekhmet on this, they're going to end up breaking the seal anyway. Better to not.

"...I'm telling you this as a friend." She says quietly. "Be careful. Being the current queen of hell doesn't make you immune to temptation."
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Palace
"I'm sorry," Sekhmet doesn't know what else to say to that, "But I'm doing this. For my family's sake." She melts a clean line around the seal and pulls it open.
Immediately a dark smoke pours out of the canister and coalesces into Sapphira's familiar form. "My daughter! And her proto-succubus minion... cultist... What's that word you like?" "Mother. We are not doing this." "That's right, 'friend!' What a silly idea." "Mother." "I haven't seen you since you and that other 'friend' of yours broke in here to steal artifacts." "Mother." "It's not okay for a mother to miss her daughter?" "You trapped me in a magical time-warping cocoon for an entire eternity." "Oh, so it worked! Thanks to your 'friends' at vigil I was too dead to make sure it kept you safe." "Safe? That thing was made to brainwash me while I slept!" "You're the greatest threat to yourself. You know that." Sekhmet pulls the artifact out of the cylinder and grips it tightly. "ENOUGH!"
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Palace]

Miranda watches the proceedings with a stoic expression on her face, crossing her arms as Sapphira and Sekhmet banter back and forth. Well, Sapphira banters. Sekhmet just kind of... refuses. Miranda's vaguely reminded of some of her own mother's more antagonistic moments; long after her parents were divorced and they stopped overly going after each other's throats, but lingering resentment over their separation and Miranda taking her dad's side still made the relationship somewhat hostile. It's just that thing horrible mother figures do, where everything that comes out of their mouth serves to cut down their kids' confidence in themselves.

"If you're done projecting your insecurities onto your daughter," Miranda begins, her voice staying level with the aid of years of practice wrangling a band of dysfunctional misfits into a cohesive unit, "She has better things to do than converse with you. And until such a time as she addresses you, you will direct all of your questions and comments to me." She glances over at Sekhmet for confirmation on this policy; it would be better if she could focus on getting the details of the artifact, and Miranda could still serve to deflect most of Sapphira's more... distracting talk.
Last edited by Ironsmith on Feb 20, 2023 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Palace
Sekhmet looks at Miranda, confused, for just a moment, then goes back to staring down Sapphira, who just ignores Miranda completely. "Why bring me here if you don't want to talk? Oh, this isn't about me, is it? You want to drain my power from the relic so you can study it safely?" The ex-queen seems to consider this. "Fine. Do it. I can't stop you." Sekhmet's hand tightens around the artifact... And her resolve wavers. As horrible as Sapphira is, Sekhmet can't bring herself to kill someone in cold blood. Sapphira's smile widens.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Palace]

"...Your highness." Miranda offers, holding out her hand to the demon queen. "Sparing her was never a part of the plan. If you can not bring yourself to deal with her, you only have to give it back to me and I will dispose of it for you."

Sekhmet will be able to tell immediately that Miranda doesn't have any such compunctions about killing Sapphira in cold blood. While the ex-spy has clear and strong criteria for who she is willing to spare and who she will have to inflict violence upon, Sapphira has long since violated the former, and destroying her is very much within Miranda's ethical capabilities. Giving her the cylinder would, indeed, be as bad as doing the deed herself... only the remains would be less informative.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Palace
Sekhmet glances at Miranda. Sapphira's vicious grin widens.
What feels like an eternity passes.
Then the demon queen passes the artifact to Miranda. Her mother doesn't stop smiling.
Once again in unprotected contact with the artifact, the electrifying feeling of power returns to Miranda. The part of her that's attuned to succubus energies tingles in anticipation. This thing is dangerous. And probably not easy to destroy. But she knew that already.
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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[Palace]

Miranda opens her mouth to object as Sekhmet hands her the artifact, but it's too late; the relic is already in her hands, and she's once again in extremely close contact with the ex-queen of the succubi. Worse, she's more vulnerable to Sapphira's predations now, with the succubus aspect heightened, and-

shump!

"No more of that nonsense." Miranda growls as she shoves the artifact back into its cylinder. It was her willingness to give Sapphira another chance before that led to her listening to the demon queen's words and letting her build power over her; a mistake she had no intention whatsoever of repeating.
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Here's to us!
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Re: The Scorching Depths

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Palace
Sapphira doesn't stop smiling. As Miranda reaches to put the artifact in the cylinder, her arm will be shot through with excruciating, mind-numbing pain. And as she gets closer, it will spread, until her whole body feels as if it is on fire, burning up from the inside out. Finishing the job would be impossible, even breathing is an agony. It would take supreme willpower to move the remaining few inches. Each instant extends to an eternity. "Enough? I don't think so." A smug smile is plastered across Sapphira's face. She strides calmly across the room towards Miranda, secure in her belief in her impending victory. Off to one side, Sekhmet tenses, about to act.
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