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Succubusekai: The Demoness Just Wanted To Stay With Her Friends! [Original-Ish] [Quest]
- Thread starter NekoIncardine
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Prologue, Part 6: Time And Twister
[X] (Work Timing) "... Let's step outside a bit, first, I'm still kind of, how do I put it…"
[X] (But While We're Here) Now that you're in a more comfortable spot, possibly after dealing with the work thing, try to flirt with Helen, but nonmagically; good to treat her with respect, but getting closer to her might make you safer from her too right?
You pause. This is… Still a lot, and kind of overwhelming, to say the least. And just rushing right to the next contact feels off.
"Let's step outside a bit, first. I'm still kind of, how do I put it?"
"Overwhelmed? That's fair," Helen responds. "But not too long, all right? This is one of those situations where taking too long could close opportunities you seem interested in taking."
"Yeaaah, that's part of it," you observe. "I am not entirely sure I want to take that. I gotta decide that a bit first, I think. Maybe go on a date with a Paladin who's much cuter when not wearing, what, fifty pounds of chain mail?"
It almost feels like that just slipped out. Which was of course totally intentional. You're a Succubus, you're good at this, and limiting yourself to doing so without charms isn't gonna slow you down that much.
The fact that you're trying to figure out where you want to go with this is entirely irrelevant!
Still, you do quickly move past her and open the door to go out to the alley. Step outside, give her space to process, maybe give yourself room to blow it off.
----
Okay, your chain mail isn't THAT heavy for one, but also that was a good transition to a flirting attempt.
There's the question of what Senaz is trying to DO with this, though. Except, thinking it through, given you've known her for like an hour and that her entire sense of self and personality got rocked about ten minutes into that… The odds are really good that she knows about as well as you do.
From what you've seen, there's probably a bit of a clash going on between extreme social anxiety and superhuman social confidence. Also between a demonic proclivity toward evil and her being a decent person overall or so it seems. And then there's the possibility of delayed-onset trans euphoria, based on the pure happiness in her expression when her former roommate called her hot.
Put it all together, and the best-seeming idea is…
[ ] (Helen's Flirt response) Tell her that if she wants to seduce you, she'd better use magic for it and do it responsibly if she wants to be good when it wears off.
[ ] (Helen's Flirt response) Respond positively to the idea of a date - she's cute, she's not evil, she's in the same isekai'd boat as you, and you're likely going to spend a lot of time together, so dating is within the range of possibility.
[ ] (Helen's Flirt response) Gently turn down the date request, but accept the compliment and flirt back just a bit.
[ ] (Helen's Flirt response) Firmly turn down the date request, but let her know you get it and are cool with her doing so, especially given she did so without her powers.
[ ] (Helen's Flirt response) Nope. Rejected. You're kind of annoyed she tried it.
… Wait a second. There's something else, this can wait a moment.
----
As you step out, Helen is following, and hasn't yet responded. Then…
"Wait a second. The sun."
You pause, and look loosely in its direction. Not right at it, you don't want to blind yourself.
Helen continues, "We were in there for an hour, and the sun should be lower than it is given that. It's almost like…"
She trails off, and you finish the thought. "Like time was stopped while I was in there." You pause… and then step around Helen to close the apartment door. "4:24 PM Pacific as of when we stepped out. So we check as soon as we go back in, in several minutes."
Helen pauses. "Good way to test it. There's more science we can do, but the preliminary hypothesis would be something like 'Time only moves on the plane Senaz is on.'"
"Which if true is quite the add-on to what the Goddess gave me," you reply. "Though there's obvious catches for those subject to aging."
Helen pauses. "Right. If I spent half my time within there, as far as this world is concerned I would age twice as fast."
You nod. "Yeah. Still, lots of potential use. A bit of testing would help, and-"
"OY!", comes a sharp voice from several paces away. And coming closer.
The source of the voice is a blonde Vulpinae, dressed with a fairly typical brown dress common among the more peasant-ish sorts around this village. (You didn't care previously about the difference between her being a serf, peasant, or something else, which means you don't know now that you might want to care. Stupid sociopathic you of an hour ago.)
Also, she looks angry, and she's walking up to…
Helen blinks, confused, as the fluffy tail of the woman stands on end. "What are you doing here?!"
You immediately put two and two together. Right, this girl, you hadn't actually gotten her name yet, was under the sway of your magical charm, along with a Human. Standard routine for a Sexy Bard - have a couple girls hanging off you and people think you're paying more attention to them than you and might let things slip.
Good for information gathering, but also mean petty heartbreaking and wait why is she pissed at HELEN??? You immediately speak up, "H-hang on, I released the charm on you when-"
The fox cuts you off, "Yes, that's kind of the problem!"
Helen pauses. "Wait, you're annoyed I saved you from-"
"You 'saved me' from the only interesting thing to happen to me in months! Seriously, hot girl interested enough to magically seduce me, Eira Nicholls -" - Okay, you know her name now - "- and then you just tromp on in, beat her up, and make her undo it before anything fun can happen!"
"Hang on," Helen responds. "That girl, fifteen minutes ago, might have literally drained your life force and killed you if you gave her the chance!"
Eira continued to be indignant, asking, "What do you mean 'of fifteen minutes ago', what'd you do to her in the last three minutes-"
Okay, Senaz, maybe time to step in quickly on THAT front. Though that does confirm that it's not just the sun, so time actually wasn't flowing while in the apartment. But more immediately… Okay, telling the entire Isekai situation would probably be a bad idea here, you realize that much.
[ ] (Honest To Fox) Give this fox a partial honest answer that yes your personality shifted, but it wasn't exactly the Paladin's fault…
[ ] (Honest To Fox) Imply you've charmed Helen into thinking you're on a fresh leaf.
[ ] (Honest To Fox) Let her believe Helen's sucked some of the evil out of you or something in that vein, but remind her you're still a Lust Demon.
[ ] (Honest To Fox) Okay, actually, just shut up, Helen can handle someone disliking her probably.
[ ] (Honest To Fox) Actually, tell the whole past life memories regained thing and see if you can confuse Eira.
[ ] (Honest To Fox) Write-In - look, the QM's been dealing with a major headache for days now, they KNOW they may be missing some solutions here.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Offer to charm her again! You were interested in that side of things earlier and can't say you're not now.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Don't offer, just go straight to the charm and get her to calm down first - Helen will probably excuse you doing so as long as you limit the use to cooling the situation. Then figure out what's next.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Her tail is turned towards you, just start brushing it! That should distract her.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Cooldown Hug Tactic.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Spin Eira around and put her in the Marshmallow Purgatory - you're not sure where the Red Queen got that name for "shove someone's face in your cleavage" from, but it's marvelously effective as long as they're sexually attracted to you, which she seems to be.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Try to let her down gently - she's a local person, you don't want to risk her joining you on the adventure or anything.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Write-In - look, you're Kind Of Interested, but how much you wanna put on this is a tricky, tricky question.
***
In addition to the three votes (Scheduled to end Sunday at Noon PST), I would like for two people to roll Insight checks - one for Senaz at +1 With Advantage (meaning roll 2d20 and the higher die is the one that counts), and one for Helen at +4. (As usual for D&D 5e, both will be d20s.) Both are targeting Eira, and the Difficulty Class will be lower for Senaz.
If the results are favorable, I'll provide clue-ins that may help your decisionmaking on the votes.
Feel free to vote as you think Helen will be thinking at the end of the post instead of at the moment of the vote, as well. I intend to have slightly less complicated next votes - this particular post just wound up dense with them relative to its length because it strongly relates to Senaz's future decisions.
I'm still pondering how to handle Senaz's appearance, as well - whether I want to just lock in on what was previously written, allow her outfits besides the Red Queen's uniform (which is preexisting custom content) to be recrafted, or allow her outfits and body to be revised (presumably as a retcon). Thoughts on this are appreciated, but formal votes or lack thereof will probably await for a post or two.
Thank you for reading!
[X] (But While We're Here) Now that you're in a more comfortable spot, possibly after dealing with the work thing, try to flirt with Helen, but nonmagically; good to treat her with respect, but getting closer to her might make you safer from her too right?
You pause. This is… Still a lot, and kind of overwhelming, to say the least. And just rushing right to the next contact feels off.
"Let's step outside a bit, first. I'm still kind of, how do I put it?"
"Overwhelmed? That's fair," Helen responds. "But not too long, all right? This is one of those situations where taking too long could close opportunities you seem interested in taking."
"Yeaaah, that's part of it," you observe. "I am not entirely sure I want to take that. I gotta decide that a bit first, I think. Maybe go on a date with a Paladin who's much cuter when not wearing, what, fifty pounds of chain mail?"
It almost feels like that just slipped out. Which was of course totally intentional. You're a Succubus, you're good at this, and limiting yourself to doing so without charms isn't gonna slow you down that much.
The fact that you're trying to figure out where you want to go with this is entirely irrelevant!
Still, you do quickly move past her and open the door to go out to the alley. Step outside, give her space to process, maybe give yourself room to blow it off.
----
Okay, your chain mail isn't THAT heavy for one, but also that was a good transition to a flirting attempt.
There's the question of what Senaz is trying to DO with this, though. Except, thinking it through, given you've known her for like an hour and that her entire sense of self and personality got rocked about ten minutes into that… The odds are really good that she knows about as well as you do.
From what you've seen, there's probably a bit of a clash going on between extreme social anxiety and superhuman social confidence. Also between a demonic proclivity toward evil and her being a decent person overall or so it seems. And then there's the possibility of delayed-onset trans euphoria, based on the pure happiness in her expression when her former roommate called her hot.
Put it all together, and the best-seeming idea is…
[ ] (Helen's Flirt response) Tell her that if she wants to seduce you, she'd better use magic for it and do it responsibly if she wants to be good when it wears off.
[ ] (Helen's Flirt response) Respond positively to the idea of a date - she's cute, she's not evil, she's in the same isekai'd boat as you, and you're likely going to spend a lot of time together, so dating is within the range of possibility.
[ ] (Helen's Flirt response) Gently turn down the date request, but accept the compliment and flirt back just a bit.
[ ] (Helen's Flirt response) Firmly turn down the date request, but let her know you get it and are cool with her doing so, especially given she did so without her powers.
[ ] (Helen's Flirt response) Nope. Rejected. You're kind of annoyed she tried it.
… Wait a second. There's something else, this can wait a moment.
----
As you step out, Helen is following, and hasn't yet responded. Then…
"Wait a second. The sun."
You pause, and look loosely in its direction. Not right at it, you don't want to blind yourself.
Helen continues, "We were in there for an hour, and the sun should be lower than it is given that. It's almost like…"
She trails off, and you finish the thought. "Like time was stopped while I was in there." You pause… and then step around Helen to close the apartment door. "4:24 PM Pacific as of when we stepped out. So we check as soon as we go back in, in several minutes."
Helen pauses. "Good way to test it. There's more science we can do, but the preliminary hypothesis would be something like 'Time only moves on the plane Senaz is on.'"
"Which if true is quite the add-on to what the Goddess gave me," you reply. "Though there's obvious catches for those subject to aging."
Helen pauses. "Right. If I spent half my time within there, as far as this world is concerned I would age twice as fast."
You nod. "Yeah. Still, lots of potential use. A bit of testing would help, and-"
"OY!", comes a sharp voice from several paces away. And coming closer.
The source of the voice is a blonde Vulpinae, dressed with a fairly typical brown dress common among the more peasant-ish sorts around this village. (You didn't care previously about the difference between her being a serf, peasant, or something else, which means you don't know now that you might want to care. Stupid sociopathic you of an hour ago.)
Also, she looks angry, and she's walking up to…
Helen blinks, confused, as the fluffy tail of the woman stands on end. "What are you doing here?!"
You immediately put two and two together. Right, this girl, you hadn't actually gotten her name yet, was under the sway of your magical charm, along with a Human. Standard routine for a Sexy Bard - have a couple girls hanging off you and people think you're paying more attention to them than you and might let things slip.
Good for information gathering, but also mean petty heartbreaking and wait why is she pissed at HELEN??? You immediately speak up, "H-hang on, I released the charm on you when-"
The fox cuts you off, "Yes, that's kind of the problem!"
Helen pauses. "Wait, you're annoyed I saved you from-"
"You 'saved me' from the only interesting thing to happen to me in months! Seriously, hot girl interested enough to magically seduce me, Eira Nicholls -" - Okay, you know her name now - "- and then you just tromp on in, beat her up, and make her undo it before anything fun can happen!"
"Hang on," Helen responds. "That girl, fifteen minutes ago, might have literally drained your life force and killed you if you gave her the chance!"
Eira continued to be indignant, asking, "What do you mean 'of fifteen minutes ago', what'd you do to her in the last three minutes-"
Okay, Senaz, maybe time to step in quickly on THAT front. Though that does confirm that it's not just the sun, so time actually wasn't flowing while in the apartment. But more immediately… Okay, telling the entire Isekai situation would probably be a bad idea here, you realize that much.
[ ] (Honest To Fox) Give this fox a partial honest answer that yes your personality shifted, but it wasn't exactly the Paladin's fault…
[ ] (Honest To Fox) Imply you've charmed Helen into thinking you're on a fresh leaf.
[ ] (Honest To Fox) Let her believe Helen's sucked some of the evil out of you or something in that vein, but remind her you're still a Lust Demon.
[ ] (Honest To Fox) Okay, actually, just shut up, Helen can handle someone disliking her probably.
[ ] (Honest To Fox) Actually, tell the whole past life memories regained thing and see if you can confuse Eira.
[ ] (Honest To Fox) Write-In - look, the QM's been dealing with a major headache for days now, they KNOW they may be missing some solutions here.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Offer to charm her again! You were interested in that side of things earlier and can't say you're not now.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Don't offer, just go straight to the charm and get her to calm down first - Helen will probably excuse you doing so as long as you limit the use to cooling the situation. Then figure out what's next.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Her tail is turned towards you, just start brushing it! That should distract her.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Cooldown Hug Tactic.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Spin Eira around and put her in the Marshmallow Purgatory - you're not sure where the Red Queen got that name for "shove someone's face in your cleavage" from, but it's marvelously effective as long as they're sexually attracted to you, which she seems to be.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Try to let her down gently - she's a local person, you don't want to risk her joining you on the adventure or anything.
[ ] (Fluffy Tail?) Write-In - look, you're Kind Of Interested, but how much you wanna put on this is a tricky, tricky question.
***
In addition to the three votes (Scheduled to end Sunday at Noon PST), I would like for two people to roll Insight checks - one for Senaz at +1 With Advantage (meaning roll 2d20 and the higher die is the one that counts), and one for Helen at +4. (As usual for D&D 5e, both will be d20s.) Both are targeting Eira, and the Difficulty Class will be lower for Senaz.
If the results are favorable, I'll provide clue-ins that may help your decisionmaking on the votes.
Feel free to vote as you think Helen will be thinking at the end of the post instead of at the moment of the vote, as well. I intend to have slightly less complicated next votes - this particular post just wound up dense with them relative to its length because it strongly relates to Senaz's future decisions.
I'm still pondering how to handle Senaz's appearance, as well - whether I want to just lock in on what was previously written, allow her outfits besides the Red Queen's uniform (which is preexisting custom content) to be recrafted, or allow her outfits and body to be revised (presumably as a retcon). Thoughts on this are appreciated, but formal votes or lack thereof will probably await for a post or two.
Thank you for reading!
Last edited:
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Prologue, Part 7: The Very Nice People
(TIE)
(Helen's Flirt response) Respond positively to the idea of a date - she's cute, she's not evil, she's in the same isekai'd boat as you, and you're likely going to spend a lot of time together, so dating is within the range of possibility.
(Helen's Flirt response) Gently turn down the date request, but accept the compliment and flirt back just a bit.
(Fluffy Tail?) Offer to charm her again! You were interested in that side of things earlier and can't say you're not now.
(Honest To Fox) Write-In - If we can't weaponize a combination of social anxiety and supernatural charisma to avoid answering awkward questions whose answers aren't actually as important as the asker thinks they are, until the question-asker has been distracted and maybe forgotten the topic, what kind of succubus even is Senaz?
"-Ahahahahah!", you laugh brightly to interrupt Eira before she gets too far down that question. "I mean, if you want to be charmed, dear, I can just do that again if you ask!"
That gets Eira blushing deep red - and you can tell Helen caught it before that too. This girl wanted to be under this influence. Which is very convenient if you don't want to talk about the isekai thing while also making sure Helen doesn't get blamed for the isekai thing! (You still think she tripped you, though.) Just get the foxxo nice and distracted and more focused on the Hot Succubus and preferably away from the door -
Wait, crap. That's a problem if you want to check the time… Thingy. The weirdness that's going on there. You gotta deal with that too. Damn it, you suddenly have way too many responsibilities all at once! But it's… Well, you're not sure. But you can handle. Maybe.
Right now, that means defusing the situation. It'd be nice if you could get a better read on Helen's response to your attempt at flirting, which kinda got interrupted by everything.
But you did slow Eira down, which is good. Enough that she turned towards you, stammering a "yesplease" which clearly highlighted the situation.
You turn towards Helen, smiling a bit but saying little.
Helen shrugs. "I mean, as long as you don't hurt her or break her heart."
You nod, looking towards Eira. "I should be clear this is basically going to be a one night stand sorta thing, then. I… super summarized, there's a thing I need to do, I need the Paladin's help to do it, and it's going to be probably far more dangerous than I'm hoping."
Eira pauses but nods. Helen's expression softens a bit, as the Vulpinae speaks up. "I get what you're saying, I guess. It's just… I don't know. I'm tired of this village, maybe."
"I get it," you respond. "I just… I'm not foolish enough to think I can keep people safe as I am now. Not yet."
"Then make sure this is a night I'll love to remember, okay?", Eira said with a chuckle. "I'll be back at the inn in two hours, with a room waiting~"
Okay. That leaves Helen. Who is smiling a bit. "... Even when you're trying to be a total hedonist, you can't help but be responsible," she observes, still without her full armor on. "To respond to your earlier question before we got distracted by concerns we both think more important and then by something entirely different… Let's go with 'not quite yet'? I think getting to know each other as allies is probably better. Though you are quite cute when you let yourself off the 'must be wicked' hook."
And then she's in your face at a rather impressive speed. "Not that I'm not interested, though. It's just that you've got too much to do and trying to date a Paladin is probably an additional stressor you don't need just yet."
… Damn it, why does the starship captain turned Paladin have to be right???
You resist the urge to pout, though, and look towards the door to your apartment. "... Sounds good. But speaking of larger concerns…"
Back into the apartment it is, but this time, you leave the door open. Helen steps back and forth across the threshold several times, as you go check - 4:24 PM. Very little time change. And…
"Okay, we'd need to do more detailed tests," you conclude. "But right now, it looks like time only flows full-speed on the side of the door I'm in - unless the door's open. That's…"
Helen blinks. "... That's potentially absurdly powerful. It'd be good to do more precise tests if time is stopped or slowed, but the scale of slowing is such that it may be almost a moot point."
"... Not that I asked for this much," You respond, "But it's potentially very good to have in terms of recovery time."
"From your quest, or your job back home?"
You can almost feel weight get added to your shoulders, as you realize this implication. If you're going to do the best you can on both fronts, then neither side is going to be all that relaxing, is it? Unless you drop the job and try to get US currency for bills and such by other means.
Which does leave you with chatting with HR, having spent less time from their perspective than planned, but convincing you to maybe try this?
---
And Senaz is back at her computer. You've seen computers like this in museums, of course; almost everything from your time is touch or straight-up buttons and switches in most of Compact space, with the in-between of the keyboard and mouse usually only showing up among historic gamers, an admittedly huge hobby. Even their designs are different than this 21st-century scheme.
Notably, however, she's not using the same computer for work as for play; she switches to a, well to be blunt, more boring-looking laptop from her multicolored-lights desktop, though it's connected to the same keyboard and monitors via a dock.
You've, of course, got a fair bit to think about, but you also figured it'd be good to listen in on Senaz's phone call with her HR representative - better to understand how it goes, while you think about… Well, for one, the fact that she can order 21st-century items to be delivered to this apartment.
That's only so good of a shortcut to advancing the technology of this world, but 'so good' is still, well, so good. From what you've seen, the technology of this world amongst large-scale civilizations - so not counting smaller tribes of both static and nomadic nature - is mostly in line with 14th to 15th-century Earth, with magics serving as a 'cheat' for some things. By comparison, you've got access to decent small-scale steelworks, 3D Printing, decent physics modeling, and a decent chunk of the sum of knowledge of the early 21st century - just to name a few examples off the top of your head.
Sure, you'll need to learn the specific technologies and their centuries-old idiosyncrasies, but that should be the easy part. The hard part is how to harness the resources to make large-scale successes without empowering forces of evil or creating chaos in the process. You want to improve the world, after all.
Of course, that also means facing down evil more directly. And also making sure you have allies who can help you do that. Which means pulling off what should be a more complex task than it sounds - keeping a Succubus on the straight and narrow.
This'd be a lot harder if the succubus' most immediate worry weren't her Human Resources representative in a 21st-century capitalist society she was an effectively infinite distance away from. Or, to put it more broadly, her stress level as the entire scope of what she's now dealing with dawns upon her. Her desire to remain connected to her past life turned into a chain keeping her connected to it… Ironic, perhaps, but with the right efforts, it can absolutely be a good thing - for her, you, and this world.
But for now, you're sitting on her bed - and, yeah, it's better than what you usually sleep on but probably needs to be replaced soonish - and it's time to watch Senaz handle a call.
---
This was not how Dianna Collins wanted her work day to end, that much is obvious on her face.
NoNam Security Group, your (Former? Maybe?) employer, was an odd duck of a company as-is. Kind of a shady firm, overall, but they paid well and you're pretty sure you were not doing anything illegal. And, thankfully, you'd gone to HR before going to your boss. Good call there.
She sighed a bit, face buried in her hands as she thought the situation through. "So, in short, you're dead, except you're also not. Let's just… skip all the 'other world quest' and 'time is fucky' side of things, other than that now there's a continuously-rolling risk that you do die for real, or completely, or whatever. It can't be that much higher a death risk than the Projects."
You're pretty sure it is, in fact, much higher, stereotypes aside, but decide to let her keep rolling, as she continues, "Like, there's all sorts of other questions I can and should be asking on top. Like, you're not some kind of weird AI duplicate of yourself, right?"
"Nope!", you respond with almost beaming confidence. Dressing in a simple T-shirt and skirt didn't hide that you were Rather Unsubtly feminine now, while sadly revealing that you're not Hatsune Miku. (... You could do that, but nah.)
"Okay, then… If I trim a few details and try to not think about the highly unprecedented legal situations this may introduce, it's entirely accurate to say something like… Sean Calvers has experienced extreme physical changes due to an accident. Recovery will involve being outside of the United States for an as-yet-to-be-determined duration. Calvers intends to continue existing work for NoNam Security Group, and will require no special disability accommodations. Separately, Sean Calvers is invoking the NNSG Alternative Gender Identities policy, requesting employees of NoNam Security Group use she/her pronouns, Miss as a titular identifier, and 'Senaz' as a casual name."
You blink a few times. "That sounds… close enough?"
Dianna nods. "All right. So that just leaves the fact that, while Senaz is talking to me right now, and clearly functional, a corpse belonging to Miss Calvers is probably at the town morgue. I will be arranging a solution for that."
Something about those words is terrifying.
"Now, independent of the body problem, which will be handled by independent contractors… You have experienced extreme traumatic circumstances, more or less. So, I should offer you the opportunity to take up to twelve weeks of leave under the Federal Medical Leave Act. Up to three would be paid under the NNSG Partial Assistance Policy. Would you like to accept this?"
[ ] (Job Front) "Honestly, getting a bit of normalcy going would be better, can I just report in tomorrow?"
[ ] (Job Front) "I'd like to take one week; That should be enough to get adjusted to my new status quo."
[ ] (Job Front) "Let's take all three paid weeks, that should be enough for me to handle the, um, 'personal trauma'. By which I mean the divine quest thing." (Yeah, right.)
[ ] (Job Front) "All three months, no hesitation. Too much going on over here." (It's good to note that Senaz probably does NOT have three months' expenses saved up, so some hasty moneymaking will be required…)
[ ] (Job Front) "Should I even be keeping this job, honestly? You've suddenly been dropping hints we're some kind of, um, something…" (This of course means finding OTHER ways to make US currency and losing NNSG's help with potential legal complications; also it will clash with Senaz's sense of responsibility, costing her a Fate Point.)
[ ] (The Other Thing) Ask about WTF is gonna happen to your body.
[ ] (The Other Thing) Don't, you don't wanna know.
[ ] (The Other Thing) Ask if the 'contractors' can deliver your body to your apartment. (Helen will be very concerned to say the least...)
[ ] (Unknown to Senaz) NNSG is extremely interested in this situation and how to potentially exploit it - legitimately or otherwise.
[ ] (Unknown to Senaz) NNSG is totally a criminal front but isn't (yet?) interested in the interdimensional situation.
[ ] (Unknown to Senaz) NNSG is mostly legitimate, Dianna is just calling in a favor; NNSG is going to try to steer clear of things as much as possible while still exploiting Senaz's labor.
***
The "Unknown to Senaz" is a potentially massive campaign influence, so this vote gets a third day for sure.
(Helen's Flirt response) Respond positively to the idea of a date - she's cute, she's not evil, she's in the same isekai'd boat as you, and you're likely going to spend a lot of time together, so dating is within the range of possibility.
(Helen's Flirt response) Gently turn down the date request, but accept the compliment and flirt back just a bit.
(Fluffy Tail?) Offer to charm her again! You were interested in that side of things earlier and can't say you're not now.
(Honest To Fox) Write-In - If we can't weaponize a combination of social anxiety and supernatural charisma to avoid answering awkward questions whose answers aren't actually as important as the asker thinks they are, until the question-asker has been distracted and maybe forgotten the topic, what kind of succubus even is Senaz?
"-Ahahahahah!", you laugh brightly to interrupt Eira before she gets too far down that question. "I mean, if you want to be charmed, dear, I can just do that again if you ask!"
That gets Eira blushing deep red - and you can tell Helen caught it before that too. This girl wanted to be under this influence. Which is very convenient if you don't want to talk about the isekai thing while also making sure Helen doesn't get blamed for the isekai thing! (You still think she tripped you, though.) Just get the foxxo nice and distracted and more focused on the Hot Succubus and preferably away from the door -
Wait, crap. That's a problem if you want to check the time… Thingy. The weirdness that's going on there. You gotta deal with that too. Damn it, you suddenly have way too many responsibilities all at once! But it's… Well, you're not sure. But you can handle. Maybe.
Right now, that means defusing the situation. It'd be nice if you could get a better read on Helen's response to your attempt at flirting, which kinda got interrupted by everything.
But you did slow Eira down, which is good. Enough that she turned towards you, stammering a "yesplease" which clearly highlighted the situation.
You turn towards Helen, smiling a bit but saying little.
Helen shrugs. "I mean, as long as you don't hurt her or break her heart."
You nod, looking towards Eira. "I should be clear this is basically going to be a one night stand sorta thing, then. I… super summarized, there's a thing I need to do, I need the Paladin's help to do it, and it's going to be probably far more dangerous than I'm hoping."
Eira pauses but nods. Helen's expression softens a bit, as the Vulpinae speaks up. "I get what you're saying, I guess. It's just… I don't know. I'm tired of this village, maybe."
"I get it," you respond. "I just… I'm not foolish enough to think I can keep people safe as I am now. Not yet."
"Then make sure this is a night I'll love to remember, okay?", Eira said with a chuckle. "I'll be back at the inn in two hours, with a room waiting~"
Okay. That leaves Helen. Who is smiling a bit. "... Even when you're trying to be a total hedonist, you can't help but be responsible," she observes, still without her full armor on. "To respond to your earlier question before we got distracted by concerns we both think more important and then by something entirely different… Let's go with 'not quite yet'? I think getting to know each other as allies is probably better. Though you are quite cute when you let yourself off the 'must be wicked' hook."
And then she's in your face at a rather impressive speed. "Not that I'm not interested, though. It's just that you've got too much to do and trying to date a Paladin is probably an additional stressor you don't need just yet."
… Damn it, why does the starship captain turned Paladin have to be right???
You resist the urge to pout, though, and look towards the door to your apartment. "... Sounds good. But speaking of larger concerns…"
Back into the apartment it is, but this time, you leave the door open. Helen steps back and forth across the threshold several times, as you go check - 4:24 PM. Very little time change. And…
"Okay, we'd need to do more detailed tests," you conclude. "But right now, it looks like time only flows full-speed on the side of the door I'm in - unless the door's open. That's…"
Helen blinks. "... That's potentially absurdly powerful. It'd be good to do more precise tests if time is stopped or slowed, but the scale of slowing is such that it may be almost a moot point."
"... Not that I asked for this much," You respond, "But it's potentially very good to have in terms of recovery time."
"From your quest, or your job back home?"
You can almost feel weight get added to your shoulders, as you realize this implication. If you're going to do the best you can on both fronts, then neither side is going to be all that relaxing, is it? Unless you drop the job and try to get US currency for bills and such by other means.
Which does leave you with chatting with HR, having spent less time from their perspective than planned, but convincing you to maybe try this?
---
And Senaz is back at her computer. You've seen computers like this in museums, of course; almost everything from your time is touch or straight-up buttons and switches in most of Compact space, with the in-between of the keyboard and mouse usually only showing up among historic gamers, an admittedly huge hobby. Even their designs are different than this 21st-century scheme.
Notably, however, she's not using the same computer for work as for play; she switches to a, well to be blunt, more boring-looking laptop from her multicolored-lights desktop, though it's connected to the same keyboard and monitors via a dock.
You've, of course, got a fair bit to think about, but you also figured it'd be good to listen in on Senaz's phone call with her HR representative - better to understand how it goes, while you think about… Well, for one, the fact that she can order 21st-century items to be delivered to this apartment.
That's only so good of a shortcut to advancing the technology of this world, but 'so good' is still, well, so good. From what you've seen, the technology of this world amongst large-scale civilizations - so not counting smaller tribes of both static and nomadic nature - is mostly in line with 14th to 15th-century Earth, with magics serving as a 'cheat' for some things. By comparison, you've got access to decent small-scale steelworks, 3D Printing, decent physics modeling, and a decent chunk of the sum of knowledge of the early 21st century - just to name a few examples off the top of your head.
Sure, you'll need to learn the specific technologies and their centuries-old idiosyncrasies, but that should be the easy part. The hard part is how to harness the resources to make large-scale successes without empowering forces of evil or creating chaos in the process. You want to improve the world, after all.
Of course, that also means facing down evil more directly. And also making sure you have allies who can help you do that. Which means pulling off what should be a more complex task than it sounds - keeping a Succubus on the straight and narrow.
This'd be a lot harder if the succubus' most immediate worry weren't her Human Resources representative in a 21st-century capitalist society she was an effectively infinite distance away from. Or, to put it more broadly, her stress level as the entire scope of what she's now dealing with dawns upon her. Her desire to remain connected to her past life turned into a chain keeping her connected to it… Ironic, perhaps, but with the right efforts, it can absolutely be a good thing - for her, you, and this world.
But for now, you're sitting on her bed - and, yeah, it's better than what you usually sleep on but probably needs to be replaced soonish - and it's time to watch Senaz handle a call.
---
This was not how Dianna Collins wanted her work day to end, that much is obvious on her face.
NoNam Security Group, your (Former? Maybe?) employer, was an odd duck of a company as-is. Kind of a shady firm, overall, but they paid well and you're pretty sure you were not doing anything illegal. And, thankfully, you'd gone to HR before going to your boss. Good call there.
She sighed a bit, face buried in her hands as she thought the situation through. "So, in short, you're dead, except you're also not. Let's just… skip all the 'other world quest' and 'time is fucky' side of things, other than that now there's a continuously-rolling risk that you do die for real, or completely, or whatever. It can't be that much higher a death risk than the Projects."
You're pretty sure it is, in fact, much higher, stereotypes aside, but decide to let her keep rolling, as she continues, "Like, there's all sorts of other questions I can and should be asking on top. Like, you're not some kind of weird AI duplicate of yourself, right?"
"Nope!", you respond with almost beaming confidence. Dressing in a simple T-shirt and skirt didn't hide that you were Rather Unsubtly feminine now, while sadly revealing that you're not Hatsune Miku. (... You could do that, but nah.)
"Okay, then… If I trim a few details and try to not think about the highly unprecedented legal situations this may introduce, it's entirely accurate to say something like… Sean Calvers has experienced extreme physical changes due to an accident. Recovery will involve being outside of the United States for an as-yet-to-be-determined duration. Calvers intends to continue existing work for NoNam Security Group, and will require no special disability accommodations. Separately, Sean Calvers is invoking the NNSG Alternative Gender Identities policy, requesting employees of NoNam Security Group use she/her pronouns, Miss as a titular identifier, and 'Senaz' as a casual name."
You blink a few times. "That sounds… close enough?"
Dianna nods. "All right. So that just leaves the fact that, while Senaz is talking to me right now, and clearly functional, a corpse belonging to Miss Calvers is probably at the town morgue. I will be arranging a solution for that."
Something about those words is terrifying.
"Now, independent of the body problem, which will be handled by independent contractors… You have experienced extreme traumatic circumstances, more or less. So, I should offer you the opportunity to take up to twelve weeks of leave under the Federal Medical Leave Act. Up to three would be paid under the NNSG Partial Assistance Policy. Would you like to accept this?"
[ ] (Job Front) "Honestly, getting a bit of normalcy going would be better, can I just report in tomorrow?"
[ ] (Job Front) "I'd like to take one week; That should be enough to get adjusted to my new status quo."
[ ] (Job Front) "Let's take all three paid weeks, that should be enough for me to handle the, um, 'personal trauma'. By which I mean the divine quest thing." (Yeah, right.)
[ ] (Job Front) "All three months, no hesitation. Too much going on over here." (It's good to note that Senaz probably does NOT have three months' expenses saved up, so some hasty moneymaking will be required…)
[ ] (Job Front) "Should I even be keeping this job, honestly? You've suddenly been dropping hints we're some kind of, um, something…" (This of course means finding OTHER ways to make US currency and losing NNSG's help with potential legal complications; also it will clash with Senaz's sense of responsibility, costing her a Fate Point.)
[ ] (The Other Thing) Ask about WTF is gonna happen to your body.
[ ] (The Other Thing) Don't, you don't wanna know.
[ ] (The Other Thing) Ask if the 'contractors' can deliver your body to your apartment. (Helen will be very concerned to say the least...)
[ ] (Unknown to Senaz) NNSG is extremely interested in this situation and how to potentially exploit it - legitimately or otherwise.
[ ] (Unknown to Senaz) NNSG is totally a criminal front but isn't (yet?) interested in the interdimensional situation.
[ ] (Unknown to Senaz) NNSG is mostly legitimate, Dianna is just calling in a favor; NNSG is going to try to steer clear of things as much as possible while still exploiting Senaz's labor.
***
The "Unknown to Senaz" is a potentially massive campaign influence, so this vote gets a third day for sure.
Helen Garland by Sakurarose12
Next will be Senaz, based on her photo described a few scenes back - the canvas from which she can be dressed based on reader suggestions.
Vote closed
Prologue, Part 8: Friends Old And True
[X] (Job Front) "Let's take all three paid weeks, that should be enough for me to handle the, um, 'personal trauma'. By which I mean the divine quest thing." (Yeah, right.)
[X] (The Other Thing) Don't, you don't wanna know.
[X] (Unknown to Senaz) NNSG is extremely interested in this situation and how to potentially exploit it - legitimately or otherwise.
---
"Um, skipping, the um independent contractors bit… Yeah, this is. A complicated traumatic situation. From my perspective, I lived ten years as an entirely different person, then the Sean you know kind of collided in like a rock hitting me in the skull."
Dianna nodded. "I don't get it, in that it's a situation crazy enough that I just have to try and shuffle it into the closest box I can, and be the best support I can. So I'm guessing you do want to take some leave?"
"Yeah. I think the three weeks ought to be enough to get this divine quest thing dealt with and stabilize my situation."
… Your Succubus-enhanced sense for reading people tells you that cough was her trying to avoid saying 'fat chance' aloud. Rude, but you just gotta prove her wrong! Fulfill an undefined sacred quest by a shady goddess with no clear requirements in three weeks. Six, if you split your time in and out of your apartment 50/50. Easy! Right? Yeah. Easy. Ahahahahaha.
Fuck.
Okay, three weeks maybe can get you more established in terms of the two halves of what is now your life, and if you can do that without losing pay…
You continue, "I can of course make myself available to talk with the team to hand stuff off in the meanwhile… Though, um, hopefully no one's going to turn out to be transphobic."
Dianna's tone returns to that certain terrifying. "Oh, don't worry about that. I'll be very, very clear about the importance of gender identity acceptance in the workplace. Cultural 'isms' are anathema to efficient value creation and will be suitably rejected."
Was HR always this terrifying? You're literally out of their physical reach and you're still worrying that some Mafia or Yakuza goons are about to knock at your door… Which leaves you resolved to not ask about your deadbody. Just, nope. Leave that alone.
Dianna continues, "Now, all information from this conversation beyond the broadest strokes and effects will be confidential between you and me, your management cannot ask about it unless you volunteer it, they're not allowed to pressure you… Look, just, get with me if there's issues, okay?"
"Y-yeah." You nod a bit. "Should probably trim the details a lot. Given I look, um, really different, any recommendations for how to explain that?"
"Just don't, honestly. Tell people your body type has experienced significant changes that are more consistent with your gender identity. Really, the larger story is… Well, I'd hope it's less relevant to your work. You still have the fingers to type and the brain to devise, the rest is none of their business."
You nod. "That… I guess it makes sense. Feels weird, but it should work."
Dianna nods. "For now, I'm going to draft notifications to your team. I'll ask that you pop in for a quick team chat with you, me, and your immediate supervisor at 9 AM tomorrow to get the broad discussion across, pass off urgent duties, and otherwise get everything in order for the leave."
"R-right. Thank you, Dianna, and may your evening be great."
"Thanks, Senaz, you too." And then the call ends.
… You breathe out, as Helen chuckles. "It seems your employer is a bit… Interesting. I'd guess they're probably some kind of crime front. Which probably means they're thinking about how to use your situation to their advantage."
You nod. "My boss might not be allowed to know much, but the company executives? Dianna will probably be breaking bread and beer with them to share the key points in half an hour. Who knows what they'll do with it."
"Indeed. But those three weeks of leave you took should give you time to try and sort that out. Of course, it gives them time to refine ideas too, so..." Helen sighs. "The command structures of the Compact are different enough that I'm a bit out of context. Just. Trust yourself, all right?"
"... Right." You shudder a bit. "The context's different, but… Well, I've got even more important things to worry about. My friends, for one. Our quest, too."
Helen nods. "And making sure you don't screw up with your bit of skirt-chasing."
You freeze, laughing uneasily. "Y-yeah. I'll. Handle that."
"Perhaps. But you should be responsible about this sort of thing. Especially given your abilities… Well, you're not thinking in terms of manipulation first, that's good. But letting yourself go on this front could turn into a lot of problems down the line - including just it becoming easier to become irresponsible elsewhere."
You pause. "... I mean, I think you've got a point, but it's not that worrisome yet, right?"
"Perhaps not. Especially since you were doing so specifically to get someone off of my back. It… Almost came across like you lost track of what you were saying until you were done." Helen chuckles. "Mastering that part of yourself will be important, too, alongside the fact that there's probably going to be a lot of fighting to do."
"What makes you think that?"
"This goddess specifically put me in the circumstances to become a Paladin, fighting's a hell of a lot of what we do. And set you up to become a Bard, someone who knows how to fight even if it's not their singular thing." Helen nods a bit. "I doubt she'd set us up to fight if she thought the quest wasn't going to involve a lot of fighting. You do know how to fight, right?"
You nod. "In several different ways, even."
"Good. Now, you mentioned your friends… While I'm starting to wonder if being a bit more circumspect may have been better for the job, I think that when it comes to your friends, you should be as truthful as you are comfortable with. They'll know you enough to know you're hiding things if you try to. So be out and proud."
"... So no making myself look like the Smol Ame version of myself?"
"What?"
"N-never mind! I think I can manage being honest about this. Just… Gotta be okay with some of the group maybe thinking I'm insane. That's fine, right?" You laugh uneasily.
Helen chuckles. "I'd bet that it'll go better than you think."
You're not so sure, but…
[ ] (Raid Group - Honesty) Tell the full truth and just hope people trust and believe you…
[ ] (Raid Group - Honesty) Tell only some of the truth; you're a bit too worried people are gonna think you're crazy.
[ ] (Raid Group - Honesty) Nope, sorry Helen, you're not saying anything about the isekai situation, just the transness and now you're using an avatar and a voice changer, ahahaha!
[ ] (Raid Group - Timing) Log on now and get this over with before you go enjoy some vulpine company. It'll let you test the results on a smaller group before your main raid tomorrow (Earth time).
[ ] (Raid Group - Timing) Go pursue the fluffy tail first, the time difference means you'll be fine as long as you aren't anxiously thinking about this the entire time you're touching fluffy gail!
[ ] (Raid Group - Timing) Go for it tomorrow (Earth Time) and tag up everyone at once - that way, you don't have to do this twice at least…
***
Not 100 percent better, but handling.
The first scene that needs to be behind a spoiler is likely to be in the next post or two. I promise a minimum of comparisons to mollusks, and with it a minimum of continued psychic damage to people who know what I am referencing.
[X] (The Other Thing) Don't, you don't wanna know.
[X] (Unknown to Senaz) NNSG is extremely interested in this situation and how to potentially exploit it - legitimately or otherwise.
---
"Um, skipping, the um independent contractors bit… Yeah, this is. A complicated traumatic situation. From my perspective, I lived ten years as an entirely different person, then the Sean you know kind of collided in like a rock hitting me in the skull."
Dianna nodded. "I don't get it, in that it's a situation crazy enough that I just have to try and shuffle it into the closest box I can, and be the best support I can. So I'm guessing you do want to take some leave?"
"Yeah. I think the three weeks ought to be enough to get this divine quest thing dealt with and stabilize my situation."
… Your Succubus-enhanced sense for reading people tells you that cough was her trying to avoid saying 'fat chance' aloud. Rude, but you just gotta prove her wrong! Fulfill an undefined sacred quest by a shady goddess with no clear requirements in three weeks. Six, if you split your time in and out of your apartment 50/50. Easy! Right? Yeah. Easy. Ahahahahaha.
Fuck.
Okay, three weeks maybe can get you more established in terms of the two halves of what is now your life, and if you can do that without losing pay…
You continue, "I can of course make myself available to talk with the team to hand stuff off in the meanwhile… Though, um, hopefully no one's going to turn out to be transphobic."
Dianna's tone returns to that certain terrifying. "Oh, don't worry about that. I'll be very, very clear about the importance of gender identity acceptance in the workplace. Cultural 'isms' are anathema to efficient value creation and will be suitably rejected."
Was HR always this terrifying? You're literally out of their physical reach and you're still worrying that some Mafia or Yakuza goons are about to knock at your door… Which leaves you resolved to not ask about your deadbody. Just, nope. Leave that alone.
Dianna continues, "Now, all information from this conversation beyond the broadest strokes and effects will be confidential between you and me, your management cannot ask about it unless you volunteer it, they're not allowed to pressure you… Look, just, get with me if there's issues, okay?"
"Y-yeah." You nod a bit. "Should probably trim the details a lot. Given I look, um, really different, any recommendations for how to explain that?"
"Just don't, honestly. Tell people your body type has experienced significant changes that are more consistent with your gender identity. Really, the larger story is… Well, I'd hope it's less relevant to your work. You still have the fingers to type and the brain to devise, the rest is none of their business."
You nod. "That… I guess it makes sense. Feels weird, but it should work."
Dianna nods. "For now, I'm going to draft notifications to your team. I'll ask that you pop in for a quick team chat with you, me, and your immediate supervisor at 9 AM tomorrow to get the broad discussion across, pass off urgent duties, and otherwise get everything in order for the leave."
"R-right. Thank you, Dianna, and may your evening be great."
"Thanks, Senaz, you too." And then the call ends.
… You breathe out, as Helen chuckles. "It seems your employer is a bit… Interesting. I'd guess they're probably some kind of crime front. Which probably means they're thinking about how to use your situation to their advantage."
You nod. "My boss might not be allowed to know much, but the company executives? Dianna will probably be breaking bread and beer with them to share the key points in half an hour. Who knows what they'll do with it."
"Indeed. But those three weeks of leave you took should give you time to try and sort that out. Of course, it gives them time to refine ideas too, so..." Helen sighs. "The command structures of the Compact are different enough that I'm a bit out of context. Just. Trust yourself, all right?"
"... Right." You shudder a bit. "The context's different, but… Well, I've got even more important things to worry about. My friends, for one. Our quest, too."
Helen nods. "And making sure you don't screw up with your bit of skirt-chasing."
You freeze, laughing uneasily. "Y-yeah. I'll. Handle that."
"Perhaps. But you should be responsible about this sort of thing. Especially given your abilities… Well, you're not thinking in terms of manipulation first, that's good. But letting yourself go on this front could turn into a lot of problems down the line - including just it becoming easier to become irresponsible elsewhere."
You pause. "... I mean, I think you've got a point, but it's not that worrisome yet, right?"
"Perhaps not. Especially since you were doing so specifically to get someone off of my back. It… Almost came across like you lost track of what you were saying until you were done." Helen chuckles. "Mastering that part of yourself will be important, too, alongside the fact that there's probably going to be a lot of fighting to do."
"What makes you think that?"
"This goddess specifically put me in the circumstances to become a Paladin, fighting's a hell of a lot of what we do. And set you up to become a Bard, someone who knows how to fight even if it's not their singular thing." Helen nods a bit. "I doubt she'd set us up to fight if she thought the quest wasn't going to involve a lot of fighting. You do know how to fight, right?"
You nod. "In several different ways, even."
"Good. Now, you mentioned your friends… While I'm starting to wonder if being a bit more circumspect may have been better for the job, I think that when it comes to your friends, you should be as truthful as you are comfortable with. They'll know you enough to know you're hiding things if you try to. So be out and proud."
"... So no making myself look like the Smol Ame version of myself?"
"What?"
"N-never mind! I think I can manage being honest about this. Just… Gotta be okay with some of the group maybe thinking I'm insane. That's fine, right?" You laugh uneasily.
Helen chuckles. "I'd bet that it'll go better than you think."
You're not so sure, but…
[ ] (Raid Group - Honesty) Tell the full truth and just hope people trust and believe you…
[ ] (Raid Group - Honesty) Tell only some of the truth; you're a bit too worried people are gonna think you're crazy.
[ ] (Raid Group - Honesty) Nope, sorry Helen, you're not saying anything about the isekai situation, just the transness and now you're using an avatar and a voice changer, ahahaha!
[ ] (Raid Group - Timing) Log on now and get this over with before you go enjoy some vulpine company. It'll let you test the results on a smaller group before your main raid tomorrow (Earth time).
[ ] (Raid Group - Timing) Go pursue the fluffy tail first, the time difference means you'll be fine as long as you aren't anxiously thinking about this the entire time you're touching fluffy gail!
[ ] (Raid Group - Timing) Go for it tomorrow (Earth Time) and tag up everyone at once - that way, you don't have to do this twice at least…
***
Not 100 percent better, but handling.
The first scene that needs to be behind a spoiler is likely to be in the next post or two. I promise a minimum of comparisons to mollusks, and with it a minimum of continued psychic damage to people who know what I am referencing.
Vote closed
Vote closed
Literally everyone voted Break It. You all have something against beds, don't you?
I am returning to the writing as time allows - this post is going to be Rather A Long One.
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Senaz's Showoff Photo by Sakurarose12
A bit of art loosely depicting Senaz's photo of herself from her conversation with Jack. This is the Red Queen's Succubus uniform; the Demon Lord's minions all know it, varying only by color. Senaz may be less influenced by the Red Queen now, but the outfit is still cute.
Sakurarose12, also responsible for the Helen image from earlier, outdid herself with this image, holy cow!
Minus horns, wings, and tail.
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