shiny new world

[mrsparkle]

Sadde's running.

Not for any particular reason, just because it's faster. He's been meaning to go to one of the capitals for a bit and now, he supposes, is as good a time as any.

And eventually he's not running anymore, because he's close enough to civilisation that someone might spot him. Not that he wouldn't be able to notice them by scent before they saw him, but still. And as he makes his way to the Norway capital at this more leisurely pace, he notices the tiny, shiny key. He walks towards it and picks it up and immediately notices just how magic it is. He can tell by the way the key feels like things, and different things depending on where it is.

He verifies that what the key feels like is consistent in absolute location by waving it around a bit and seeing that the same place always feels the same. "Huh," he murmurs to himself.

He straightens up and thinks. The first obvious thing to try is seeing whether it opens any doors - a universal skeleton key sounds like the kind of thing a magical key could be - but the second obvious thing can be tested right there and then. He pushes the key into thin air with some purpose, as if he wanted to unlock an invisible door, and then turns it, et voilà, the faintest of door-shaped outlines appears before him.

He locks the door, and it disappears. Unlocks it again, and there it is. So he pulls it open and sees-

Comments

[from_scratch]

Cam is mildly apologetic when he puts pants on and goes to make himself some non-coffee food, but only mildly. "Two weeks is a lot of marathon," he remarks. "If I had more going on in life I would have had to cut you off sooner."

[mssparkle]

"Must you?" she pouts a bit when he puts trousers on.

[from_scratch]

"I normally wear pants and do not wear a shirt. Beware of making me self-conscious about this."

[mssparkle]

"I would prefer you wearing nothing, but shirtless is pretty good. I won't say two weeks of uninterrupted you is enough but it's definitely a good start," she says, grinning and going after him, completely naked herself. "So, this is the part where we actually get to know each other, right?"

[from_scratch]

"Definitely a thing that should eventually happen. I mean, I've had anonymous sex but only when I was literally incapable of speech. So. Who are you and what are you doing in my house?"

[mssparkle]

"I've told you my name. I'm a vampire, and I'm in your house because I'm magically in love with you and you decided that being a vampire in Hell was probably not going to be good for me, and also you wanted to think about what to do with a vampire who's magically in love with you. What were your conclusions?"

[from_scratch]

"...Honestly, my conclusions were that I didn't have enough information to decide if you're relationship material but your obvious intense lust was really distracting from figuring that out and I didn't have a principled objection to shuffling the old-fashioned order of operations. I'm not sure I have worn it down to a non-distracting level, though. You may be some kind of lust vampire."

[mssparkle]

"Hmm, well, I wouldn't be surprised if I was lustier than most other vampires, given that when I was a human I think I had a pretty high sex drive, relatively speaking. But two weeks of uninterrupted lewdness doesn't sound too excessive for when two vampires mate on each other, from what I've gathered."

[from_scratch]

"Well... I'm not a vampire. I'm a demon. So. I live in this house, occasionally I go to the plane of gold to do random social things like the music assembly you dropped in on, and frequently, I take summons, which have me out of Hell altogether for hours or days. What do you see yourself doing inserted into this lifestyle?"

[mssparkle]

"...doing things with you and whining a lot when you take summons, probably. How do summons work? Is there a way for me to come with you? What do you do when you're summoned?"

[from_scratch]

"Summoners draw circles soliciting a random demon because they don't know one who has the skills or disposition they're looking for, first to grab it gets it and vanishes from Hell and appears in the circle. No passengers. Variety of things. Put out forest fires, build space stations, make houses. I really want to terraform Mars but so far nobody will let me."

[mssparkle]

"Why won't they let you? Is there no other way out of Hell than being summoned?"

[from_scratch]

"People are wary with summoned demons and won't let me talk so all I get are deals they propose. And that is indeed it, although I guess your key might still work."

[mssparkle]

"Won't let you talk? How and why?" She rests one hand on her right thigh, and then she's holding the key, which she'd embedded inside her femur a few days back. "...and it just occurred to me that I left an open portal back where we met."

[from_scratch]

"Summonings can have bindings. They're an important safety precaution - you don't want to summon a random demon, find that you got a sociopath, and have them suck the Earth into a black hole - but the gag's there so we don't talk them out of their souls, even though we can't actually collect. Aaaand is that how it works? Open portals? We should probably go do something about that."

[mssparkle]

"I didn't get much chance to actually test it, I was in the middle of doing that when soulmate magic hit me in the forehead and it kinda slipped my mind, but yes, we should. Why do they think you'd talk them out of their souls? How can you talk someone out of their soul?"

[from_scratch]

Cam heads for his shuttle. "When daeva are summoned it's generally to agree to a task and a payment. Traditionally you can pay a demon with your soul. A task/binding pair only gets set if the summoner and daeva agree on it."

[mssparkle]

She follows him but says, "Um," and gestures at her nakedness.

[from_scratch]

Cam hands her clothes. "Change on the way. You are very nimble, I believe in your ability to put on clothes in a shuttle."

[mssparkle]

She giggles. "Anyway, you were saying about people traditionally paying demons with their souls?"

[from_scratch]

"It's never actually happened. We can't take them. But a certain sort of demon thinks it's fun to mess with mortals like that."

[mssparkle]

She starts putting clothes on. "And simultaneously give everyone else a bad name and make it impossible for you to terraform Mars." Pause. "Should I maybe have wings and a tail?"

[from_scratch]

"Yeah, possibly, but I'd rather discuss design when we're not worrying about a two-week-old portal in a well-trafficked park. Tail's more optional than the wings. If anybody asks you can't decide on a color."

[mssparkle]

"Black. Definitely black."

And she eyes him like she didn't just spend two weeks having her way with him (and vice-versa) nigh-continuously.

[from_scratch]

"Right, but you're pretending you might want them red and gold or something."

Presently, he lands in the park.