THE MISTRESS' FEAST

[loveskulls]

With the return of the winner of the Fuckfest, the Mistress has formally announced an important and exclusive feast--and decreed that all of her extra-dimensional pets (that means you) are to attend. This news is delivered by the guards, both native to this world and otherwise, who are also tasked with distributing butt-plugs that have the words "Congratulations on not dying of exposure" engraved in their bases.

If you try not to attend, you will be forced into it anyway. It is compulsory on pain of death. Sorry. However, upon being escorted/invited into the great hall of the castle, you are welcomed by a fantastic and bustling scene. Music plays, performers dance, and the smell of food hangs in the air as platters are carried around by servants who take the time to offer portions to each guest. Not to mention the wine! The ambassadors and other guests in attendance are in varying states of undress, but no one is completely naked—and at least those who come close are not sitting on top of the table or anything. There is almost a sense of decorum to this particular event.

At the very head of the table, clad in an extraordinarily expensive-looking set of BDSM lingerie and her horned crown, sits the Mistress. Flanked by two of her highest ranking guards, she laughs and smirks at the chatter of the ambassadors sitting nearby, paying no attention to anyone else except those who have already earned her good graces.

Regardless of your job, you will all be seated all together at the very end of the table, furthest away from the Mistress. Yenh, the fuckfest winner, gets the honor of being at the end, but there’s a lot flowers and statues blocking the view anyway. She's out of earshot for whatever dinner discussions you'd like to have—but her loyal guards, servants, and the less-well-received ambassadors are not.

Once the feasting winds down, the Mistress rises and climbs the steps to the throne at the end of the room. She settles in and only now lays her eyes upon the Kingdom's special arrivals.

"Come and claim your rewards. Don't be shy."

She turns her gaze toward Estinien, the sole person who did not participate in the Fuckfest while it was ongoing, and grins. "You, too."

Once the dinner is over, nothing stops you from milling about to socialize, get caught up in an ambassador's after-dinner sex party, or to just leave with your shiny new prizes.

Comments

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh nods in agreement, giving him an awkward smile.]

Sorry. I don't mean to boast about it. I know that was what you wanted—a proper place to live.

[hauntpadour]

I'll work my way up. You earned your win.

[He'll keep at his work. There isn't resentment there, but a little bit of jealousy. He nodded politely.]

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh's awkward smile remains in place for another heartbeat before slipping into something more genuine.]

I pray you can contract an improvement quickly.

Truth be told, it is the first proper house I've had since I left my mother's keep. I have no use for high luxury, but I'm... charmed, to think that I have a little home that belongs to me.

[hauntpadour]

I'm sure its a comfort.

[This time he does actually give a genuine smile, glancing down into his drink. He's drinking a lot tonight.]

I think a place to myself is.. interesting, even if its a muddy little cottage for now. I've spent the last few years sharing a room with five other men.

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh may be less inebriated, but she hasn't shied away from it, either. Her mouth forms an 'oh' that never actually comes out.]

Is that a common living arrangement for learned men, or was that, ah- [She offers Egon an awkward smile, and then sort of gently bumps her finger knuckles together a few times, as to communicate a question about whether it was romantic/sexual, except without using anything romantic/sexual at all.]

[hauntpadour]

Ah... no.

Because we were on call twenty-four seven, it was easier to all live in the firehouse together, where we could get our equipment and act fast.

[He couldn't even imagine actually being romantically involved with... his entire team. Egon takes another swig of his wine, making eye contact with the young woman. ]

[crimsonlight]

[She matches his eye contact, her thoughts passing from a very-mild-but-still-surprising-to-her disappointment and into a kind of pleased confusion.]

How thrilling! Doing what? And what is a firehouse?

[hauntpadour]

[He couldn't help but laugh, smiling kindly. Okay, past the worst part.]

A firehouse is a building that houses trucks and equipment for firefighters. They live in, cook, and have an alarm there where they can be notified from all across their jurisdiction about fires.

We used the firehouse because it was reasonable to rent and served our purpose. Our line of work was actually Ghostbusting- trapping demons, gods, ghosts, and other supernatural entities that disturbed the populace.

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh's eyes widen somewhat as she listens to and imagines a depot of technology and magic, dedicated to both eradicating fire and to protecting the innocent from voidsent, primals, and malicious spirits.]

Ah! Such noble lines of work!

It seems we have more in common than I realized. I've the distinction of being the realm's most renowned god-slayer.

[hauntpadour]

[Well, that tells him why she's so proud. He grins, hands on his hips.]

It seems we do. I've met with a handful of gods myself.

[crimsonlight]

Truly?! [She leans forward slightly, feeling a sort of kinship blossoming.]

Then are you also blessed with divine protection of some sort? ... Or do you use science?

[Not that there's anything wrong with that, inherently. Egon isn't anything like a certain science-powered maniac she tangled with very recently back home.]

[hauntpadour]

Science.

[Well, of course. What else was there for him to use?]

By harnessing carefully tuned proton streams, we've defeated more than a handful of gods. Gozer, Tiamat, Proteus, and a handful of lesser demons.

[crimsonlight]

[She starts to nod along, but one name catches her.]

How peculiar—Tiamat is a name shared by one of the First Brood. A dragon. [And, because she needs to stand as character witness for someone Egon will never meet, she continues.] A kind dragon, with a terribly sad tale.

[hauntpadour]

The Tiamat I knew was also a dragon, but one bent on destruction. She had been chasing Marduk across the globe, destroying cities, for centuries.

[He shrugged absently. It had been one of many eventful days in New York.]

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh frowns. Weird to think that there's another star with another Tiamat who was... not at all like the one she knew, beyond their shared race.]

Much destruction was wrought as a consequence of our Tiamat's choices, but she never intended it.

[But she stops herself. No. She already feels like she's said too much. Tiamat's anguish was both impossibly private, even though it had been world-altering. It wasn't Yenh's place to just blab that.]

[hauntpadour]

I don't think the same name necessarily means they were the same sort of entity.

[With the same morals, intentions, etc. That may come across, may not.]

It's like if I found someone named Egon who didn't collect fungus.

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh shakes her head.]

In my experience, I've learned never to discount coincidences like this. Mayhap it is a distant connection, but one nonetheless. I don't really know much about alternate worlds, except that they exist... I knew that much even before this realm called us to it.