Planeside 3

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
"You should shut your mouth before I do it for you, permanently." Sekhmet threatens. She turns to the succubi and guards arriving. She does not appear to be in a good mood. "Where are the other two?" The question is aimed at both the guards and the succubi. Most likely the first group can't answer and the second won't, but it's worth a shot.

[Ironsmith]

[Scorching Depths]

"Haven't got the foggiest." Mendacity offers.
"They disappeared this morning and haven't come back." Perfidy adds.

"Heueheh... there's not much point in talking about them for much longer." Slicer chortles.

"...You didn't..."

"Oh, no, not yet." The demon snorts. "Heavens no. But... well, who do you suppose is going to warn them that my counterpart made it into the palace, hm?"

[Recaiden]

[Brefaisil]

Thankfully, Alun doesn't seem to notice the handoff. The guard accepts the chalice and eagerly guzzles it, draining the cup in a matter of seconds. Guy probably skipped breakfast or something.

If Marcie follows his directions, she'll eventually find herself at the aforementioned chapel; a large rectangular chamber, lined with wooden benches bearing comfortable-looking velvet cushions. The front of the room is mostly on a raised dais, which has a rectangular alter bearing a pair of candles on it, one lit, the other not. Behind that are a pair of statues; the one on the left depicts a well-muscled man with a beard of epic proportions, bringing down a hammer on to an anvil. The one on the right depicts an elderly woman in a modest robe kneeling and cupping a sprout in her hand, smiling at it encouragingly.

Off to one side, a gaggle of robed figures stand, holding open leatherbound books, their voices ringing out in an unintelligible song. They haven't noticed Marcie yet.

Good! The blood pretty much got where it needed to go.
It would have made Marcie sick to drink all that, anyway.

She follows the directions, and sees, well, what really looks like a chapel!
She decides to take a seat and listen to the singing for now. No need to interrupt them, unless it seems like they'll carry on singing for a very long time.

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
Everyone, there is possibly a hostile intruder in the palace. This is not a test. Please, uh, get to a safe place as soon possible. Guards, uh, please release the hellhounds immediately. Sekhmet sends out a psychic shout. Everyone in the palace should hear that. And indeed, even all this distance away, a loud, triumphant baying erupts. The hounds are eager to hunt, and it doesn't take Sekhmet long to send them a telepathic image of the target.

[Earl of Purple]

Prison Realm

Do you wish to free them? I do not know who or what they are. I have not been able to meet any of the other inmates within this realm. The skull still speaks by moving the mouth of Kiun's reflection. It might be easier if she spoke sign language, but alas- the skull doesn't know any, and even if it did there's no guarantee Kiun would know it too.

Two went back, you say? The reflection moves away from the mirror, so Kiun can see two Hands of Justice bounding along towards her, twirling the balls and chains around. The one in the lead comes to an abrupt stop and the other just avoids the collision, though their flails are entangled. The skull telekinetically held one of the twirling spheres in place, which caused the first to stall as the chain went taut and then it didn't move when the other hit it.

[Recaiden]

[Prison Realm]

Kiun doesn't speak sign language.
Mainly because she doesn't have hands. Only wings, which would have a lot of trouble making the signs of common languages.
Also because simply being able to talk is an incredible rarity - to look into more means of communication would be excessive.
"Do not free the one ahead of me." The Weevil. "The others, I do not know about." She was kind of hasty in letting out the skull, but she had worried about the Hands coming back and not giving her another chance.

[Ironsmith]

[Brefaisil]

Good! The blood pretty much got where it needed to go.
It would have made Marcie sick to drink all that, anyway.

She follows the directions, and sees, well, what really looks like a chapel!
She decides to take a seat and listen to the singing for now. No need to interrupt them, unless it seems like they'll carry on singing for a very long time.

[Brefaisil]

Unfortunately, they will.

Fortunately, after a few minutes, Marcie will be joined on her bench by another man in similar vestments, who sits about half an arm's length away from her. "Grace and might of the Lovers be with you, sister." He greets, not turning his head. "What brings you to our humble house of worship today?"

Scorching Depths
Everyone, there is possibly a hostile intruder in the palace. This is not a test. Please, uh, get to a safe place as soon possible. Guards, uh, please release the hellhounds immediately. Sekhmet sends out a psychic shout. Everyone in the palace should hear that. And indeed, even all this distance away, a loud, triumphant baying erupts. The hounds are eager to hunt, and it doesn't take Sekhmet long to send them a telepathic image of the target.

[Scorching Depths]

"Ooh, 'release the hounds'." Slicer chuckles. "Classic archdemon stuff. You're settling in quite nicely, aren't you, queen of the floozies?"

Mendacity and Perfidy stand a little farther back from Sekhmet, not liking where this conversation seemed to be going.

"Oh, and incidentally?" Slicer makes a vague gesture at the succubi. "Their idea."

"What?" "No!" "Don't be such a-" "Two-faced lying son of a-" "Can't believe this-" "Full of crap!"

[Earl of Purple]

Prison Realm

Oh? What did they do, that you found displeasing, or did they refuse to divulge their claims? The Skull of Am-Het's own reasons for imprisonment are unclear, since I don't believe Kiun has asked yet.

They're approaching another cell, and this one is closed as the last was. The Skull doesn't see it yet, since they've turned back to Kiun in order to talk to her.

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
Sekhmet is well and truly frustrated with this murderer. "Enough!" With a wave of her hands, Slicer's chains tighten and lift him to the ceiling, anchoring themselves solidly in the stonework. A gag materializes over his mouth. "Now. There will be questions when I return. You keep these 3 secure; I will be joining my hunting party." Armor, unfamiliar to these fiends, materializes on her body, a hammer in her hand, and Sekhmet stalks off into her palace as a warrior queen, the Fiery Protector. She will find this monster, and if necessary, she will end him. This Name is no pacifist.

[Recaiden]

[Prison Realm]
"It tried to deceive me, and poorly, rather than negotiate." Kiun offers a short explanation.

"There's another cell being approached."
She herself will stop and look inside when they get closer...

[Brefaisil]

Well, the choir can carry on being the choir if there's someone else around.
"Hello, and thank you for the welcome." She says with a nod.
"I've just recently come from meeting with pontiff Ardanach, and I was wondering how the broader church feels about him and his positions." Among other things.

[Ironsmith]

Scorching Depths
Sekhmet is well and truly frustrated with this murderer. "Enough!" With a wave of her hands, Slicer's chains tighten and lift him to the ceiling, anchoring themselves solidly in the stonework. A gag materializes over his mouth. "Now. There will be questions when I return. You keep these 3 secure; I will be joining my hunting party." Armor, unfamiliar to these fiends, materializes on her body, a hammer in her hand, and Sekhmet stalks off into her palace as a warrior queen, the Fiery Protector. She will find this monster, and if necessary, she will end him. This Name is no pacifist.

[Scorching Depths]

Slicer keeps laughing into his gag, which thankfully muffles the sound into inaudibility. At least the guards won't have to put up with that while she's gone.

The other demon doesn't seem to have gotten any less ruthless; unattended spatters of red (with little glowing flecks mixed in) litter the hallways, remains of whatever demons were unfortunate enough to not yet be at their safe hideout before he came through. Fortunately, that also means he's leaving a very visible trail, and it won't be long before she catches up to him.

Whether she realizes she's caught up to him is another matter. Her hunting party will meet her where the trail ends, hounds sniffing around and guards at the ready. Spicer's here, somewhe-

The suited demon drops from the ceiling just over Sekhmet, claws outstretched to take a swing at her. Fortunately, for a being of Sekhmet's size, it won't be fatal if his ambush goes as he planned... but having one of her Names torn out of her and spattered on the wall won't be a pleasant experience. It should also be noted that he only needs to touch Sekhmet for this to occur; her shield and weapon, provided by her name, are "her" enough for the demon's claws to go to work on them.

[Brefaisil]

Well, the choir can carry on being the choir if there's someone else around.
"Hello, and thank you for the welcome." She says with a nod.
"I've just recently come from meeting with pontiff Ardanach, and I was wondering how the broader church feels about him and his positions." Among other things.

[Brefaisil]

"It is not our place to involve ourselves in the politics of the city." The priest replies coolly. "Whether we agree with his positions has little bearing on our duties. His dislike of the queen is well-known, but we are unclear as to whether he speaks with Absum's voice in this matter. The Father-Lord does not speak to us on these matters; he tells us instead to help the needy, first and foremost, so whether the queen's reign be blessed or damned, Brefaisil's people need not suffer."

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
"My queen! Get down!" A succubus who had been tagging alongside the hunters mostly for the spectacle is the one to see the ambusher, and the one to react,. leaping forward and pushing Sekhmet out of the way, taking a nasty slash to her wing in the process. She begins to melt as Sekhmet recovers from her tumble and watches helplessly. "I'm sorry..." "No, no, stay with me, please. Don't die." It's too late. Sekhmet looks at the (probably triumphant-feeling) Spicer. A furious fire burns in her eyes, boiling tears of rage and frustration and grief streaming down her face. Something inside her cracks. "This is for all the girls you murdered. For all the soldiers you cut down in the line of duty." She points her hammer, and a lance of flame screams forth at the Lethean butcher's head, bright as the sun and hot enough to burn a soul to ash.

[Ironsmith]

[Scorching Depths]

The demon howls with diabolical laughter as the succubus melts, taking some time to lick some of her remnants off his bladed fingers. Mmm, that was a rare one. Devotion. Not many down here in the hells who could give him that flavor. He grins at Sekhmet, convinced the demon queen was as powerless to stop him as the rest of these demons of the Depths. He could wreak terror and pain across this hell as much as he wanted; and when he's done with that, it's off to the mortal realm, where they're even more helpless. The afterlife's a beautiful thing, isn't it?

Then Sekhmet lances him through the head.

At first, nothing seems to happen. He's a demon, is a little fire meant to scare him? He chuckles as the last wisps of flame die away, walking toward the apparently-impotent queen to finish the job.

But he doesn't get more than a few feet when something sears behind his eyes. A sudden surge of indescribable agony, relentless, all-consuming. He collapses to his knees, clasping at his face as flames build in his eye sockets, causing tears of ash to flutter from them as the world goes dark around him.

He knows now what's happening. He's burning up from the inside out.

The demon lets out a shriek of pain and horror as it turns its own claws on itself, in a desparate bid to somehow remain slightly intact, to have its essence passed on into something rather than obliderated entirely, but it's already too late; all that comes away are fistfuls of ash, and all too soon, his hands lose cohesion, causing the claws to clatter to the floor as he writhes helplessly, gouts of flame shooting out of the various wounds in his body.

And then it's done. Where there once stood a remorseless serial killer, now there is nothing more than soulless ash.

Which, one of the hounds discovers, makes for excellent kibble.

Sekhmet may note that the demon's claws survived the burning; they weren't a proper part of him, by the look of things. One of the guards is quick to suggest they should be secured or destroyed; they don't need another one of these psychos running around.

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
Sekhmet breathes a sigh of... Something. Part relief, part remorse, part shock, part anguish. She just killed someone, in a brutal and terrifying way. She drops to her knees and runs her hand gently through the remains of that brave succubus who had pushed her to safety. Any veneer of terrifying power she gained from the brutal execution is immediately shattered, as the tears of the demon queen mix with the liquified remains of her loyal subject. "She saved my life. Why did she have to... I didn't even know her name." The claws need to be destroyed, Sekhmet agrees, but first she needs to mourn for the woman who was willing to die for her queen.

[Ironsmith]

[Scorching Depths]

"...Flake, ma'am." One of the guards volunteers.

An awkward silence, then,

"I don't know what her real name was, but we always used to call her Flake, because she wasn't the most reliable sort. Always distracted. Head in the clouds, as it were." The guard winces slightly. "...Seems sort of disrespectful now."

There's a murmur of assent among the guards. Yeah, that was her. The ever-more-infamous Flake. "What a way to buck the nickname", many of them think, but don't say.

[Earl of Purple]

Prison Realm

The skull bobs up and down in understanding of Kiun's motives in leaving the Weevil bound- not that it knows that the entity in the cell is the Weevil of Amsterdam- and pivots in the air to see the upcoming cell.

The cell is like the others, in appearance. Inside, there's a... person. She looks like a wet child, wearing a one-piece swimsuit with a towel around her shoulders, about eleven or twelve years old, at least when viewed straight-on. Her hair is dark blonde, though it's also wet so might be a paler shade when dry, and ends between her shoulder blades, and her skin is pale and beaded with moisture. Her green eyes almost seem to glow, and she has a slightly catlike smile on her face. She appears to have just climbed out of a swimming pool, or perhaps a lake or sea, yet the only water in her cell is dripping off her body.

If viewed from the corner of the eye, however, she appears to be a crone. An old lady, wrinkled and withered like she's spent too long in the water, just as wet and dripping as she appears straight on, clad in the same swimsuit and towel. Her green eyes are bulbous and seem to protrude, fish-like, from her head. Her hair is greying, rather than blonde, but just as long and wet.

The skull turns towards the cell, and then turns to continue onwards. It's either ignoring this individual, or else it can't see her, for whatever reason. "Are you here to free me? I don't know why they locked me up. The skull's creepy, you shouldn't trust it." The child/crone has walked to the bars, and at the sound of her voice the skull has stopped and turned, trying very hard to examine the cell.

Most of what the child-crone says is lies; she's supernaturally good at it, though there's no effect forcing Kiun to believe her- just interfering with any truth-detection and body language and tone both suggest she believes what she's saying.

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
By now, the remnants of "Flake"'s soul are thoroughly watered down with Sekhmet's tears.
The conflux of magics here, a shredded soul mixed with the remorse of an archfiend who is still coursing with the power she used to kill the deceased succubus' murderer.
There's a solid chance something will be born of this junction of different magics. But for now, there's just a moment of silence.

[Recaiden]

[Brefaisil]

"It is not our place to involve ourselves in the politics of the city." The priest replies coolly. "Whether we agree with his positions has little bearing on our duties. His dislike of the queen is well-known, but we are unclear as to whether he speaks with Absum's voice in this matter. The Father-Lord does not speak to us on these matters; he tells us instead to help the needy, first and foremost, so whether the queen's reign be blessed or damned, Brefaisil's people need not suffer."

"A noble pursuit." Part of her wants to add that it's also a pointless pursuit, but she doesn't let that show through, certianly doesn't get said aloud.

"I am convinced he does not speak with the Father's voice, but, that's not here, as you say." Marcie agrees in a twisty way.
"Could you tell me more of Absum?"

[Prison Realm]

The skull bobs up and down in understanding of Kiun's motives in leaving the Weevil bound- not that it knows that the entity in the cell is the Weevil of Amsterdam- and pivots in the air to see the upcoming cell.

The cell is like the others, in appearance. Inside, there's a... person. She looks like a wet child, wearing a one-piece swimsuit with a towel around her shoulders, about eleven or twelve years old, at least when viewed straight-on. Her hair is dark blonde, though it's also wet so might be a paler shade when dry, and ends between her shoulder blades, and her skin is pale and beaded with moisture. Her green eyes almost seem to glow, and she has a slightly catlike smile on her face. She appears to have just climbed out of a swimming pool, or perhaps a lake or sea, yet the only water in her cell is dripping off her body.

If viewed from the corner of the eye, however, she appears to be a crone. An old lady, wrinkled and withered like she's spent too long in the water, just as wet and dripping as she appears straight on, clad in the same swimsuit and towel. Her green eyes are bulbous and seem to protrude, fish-like, from her head. Her hair is greying, rather than blonde, but just as long and wet.

The skull turns towards the cell, and then turns to continue onwards. It's either ignoring this individual, or else it can't see her, for whatever reason. "Are you here to free me? I don't know why they locked me up. The skull's creepy, you shouldn't trust it." The child/crone has walked to the bars, and at the sound of her voice the skull has stopped and turned, trying very hard to examine the cell.

Most of what the child-crone says is lies; she's supernaturally good at it, though there's no effect forcing Kiun to believe her- just interfering with any truth-detection and body language and tone both suggest she believes what she's saying.

"Maybe." Kiun answers the not-child with a small smile. She's getting no hints about what the not-crone really wants, which is unusual itself.
"You have a connection with water. How does it work?"

Since she doesn't seem to be blazing or a religious authority, this child-elder is most likely 'Stofia, the Eater of Innocents', a name which says quite a bit that the other captives didn't really have recorded. Plus it's being rude about the skull, which is a little distasteful.

[Ironsmith]

Scorching Depths
By now, the remnants of "Flake"'s soul are thoroughly watered down with Sekhmet's tears.
The conflux of magics here, a shredded soul mixed with the remorse of an archfiend who is still coursing with the power she used to kill the deceased succubus' murderer.
There's a solid chance something will be born of this junction of different magics. But for now, there's just a moment of silence.

[Scorching Depths]

A chance, however, does not gratification make. Powerful though the demon queen may be, there's not much more she can do here than just cradle what remains of one of her loyal subjects.

That's enough to cause something to happen, though.

Where the head would be, small bubbles begin forming, gradually coalescing into a larger one, which bursts with an audible gasp when it reaches the size of a small lemon. Air pulses fluidly back and forth under the surface of the puddle, pushing open and pulling closed the small crater formed by that first bubble. The edges of the puddle fizz and foam, tucking back under the surface, air trapped in the membrane formed slowky taking the shape of a prone woman. The liquid roils and drips until everythinf is just so, leaving the succubus laying there with her head in the queen's lap, looking up at her groggily. "...?"

[Brefaisil]

"A noble pursuit." Part of her wants to add that it's also a pointless pursuit, but she doesn't let that show through, certianly doesn't get said aloud.

"I am convinced he does not speak with the Father's voice, but, that's not here, as you say." Marcie agrees in a twisty way.
"Could you tell me more of Absum?"

[Brefaisil]

"Certainly, miss." The priest nods toward the statue of the smith behind the altar. "Absum is the higest of Lords, god of order, destruction, refinement, civilization, the sun and storms." The priest explains. "It is he who teaches us we are more than our natures, that humanity has appetites which need not always be fed, and that we flourish when laboring under a spirit of cooperation. That the honest, the honorable, and just bring out the best in us, and it is our solemn duty to exercise these virtues in all things."

[Earl of Purple]

Prison Realm

"I am an undine, I don't know why I'm here. I was swimming in my lake, they caught me and hauled me out and locked me up. Nobody has told me anything about why I'm here." A lie, but perfectly told. She's a river-hag, not an undine, and she knows exactly why she's here. The part about swimming in a lake is true, however. "Will you please let me out? I miss the feel of water on my limbs, flowing through my hair, and pooling in my lungs." She removes the towel from her shoulders and spreads it on the floor, and sits on it.

The skull floats back towards Kiun, and the reflection in the mirror set into its eyesocket waves to get Kiun's attention before 'speaking' again. What are you talking to? I can't see anything in that cell. It looks empty to me.

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
"What? You're alive? You're alive! Uh, how do you feel?" Sekhmet is elated. Also very surprised. She thought there was no coming back from that.

[Ironsmith]

[Scorching Depths]

Flake reaches up and starts poking at Sekhmet's face, gently pinching and squeezing at it, looking up at the demon queen with a pleasantly perplexed expression. Huh! This thing making noises at her sure is weird. Nice, though. Happy? Huh. Who can say.

The succubus's gaze slowly travels downward as her eyes drink in the details of who she's looking at. Her hands do the same, going to Sekhmet's shoulders, arms, and whatever those things on her chest are. Kinda weird and squishy. Oh, hey, Flake has them too! Neat.

One thing she doesn't do is answer Sekhmet's question. She doesn't seem to realize a question's been asked.

[Recaiden]

[Prison Realm]

Kiun turns and looks into the mirror, focusing on the words.
"There's a water-creature asking to be let out."
"You don't see it? It is just an illusion? Do you know of any reason you would fail to see something?"

That's really strange, and she isn't sure what to think of it. Is the skull just tricking her to avoid complicating things?

[Brefaisil]

Marcie nods along at the explanation. It matches the art and what she's heard before. Mostly.
"How does he teach these thing?"

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
Sekhmet yelps as she's groped. "Flake?" She sighs. "You can't understand me, uh, can you?" She cradles the seemingly amnesiac succubus' head in her arms and rocks it back and forth. "You did well. So well. I don't know how I'll repay you."

[Ironsmith]

[Brefaisil]

Marcie nods along at the explanation. It matches the art and what she's heard before. Mostly.
"How does he teach these thing?"

[Brefaisil]

"With difficulty." The priest concedes. "The closest our world has ever come to manifesting an avatar of Absum is the sun itself. To then have said avatar walk upon the earth would be... counterproductive." The priest shuffles. "Most of Absum's teachings come from miracles and the theologians who study them. There are patterns to be seen... many people who commit the same sin and are smote by Absum are clearly displeasing him. Similarly, those he ordains into Lords and Ladies are clear examples of what sorts of things Absum values in his peoples. With a comprehensive enough history and careful study, these patterns can be gleaned and followed." The priest pauses before adding, "And when that is not sufficient, a handful of Lords, Ladies, and Thamar have also taken on the roles of prophets, using their divinity to stand in Absum's presence and not perish. One must be careful in listening to such messengers, however... we have seen instances of them adding their own words to Absum's."

Scorching Depths
Sekhmet yelps as she's groped. "Flake?" She sighs. "You can't understand me, uh, can you?" She cradles the seemingly amnesiac succubus' head in her arms and rocks it back and forth. "You did well. So well. I don't know how I'll repay you."

[Scorching Depths]

Flake lets out a placid moan as Sekhmet hugs her head, nuzzling into the demon queen's bosom. Again, she doesn't seem to understand what Sekhmet is saying... but her tone is clear enough. Sad but grateful. Mostly sad. Flake's not sure why the queen is sad. She hopes she feels better soon.

"...Your highness?" One of the guards interrupts the cuddle session, somewhat reluctantly. "...Perhaps here and now is not the best time and place for this."

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
Sekhmet sighs. "You're right." She gently pushes Flake off her and stands up."We should deal with the other one, the one who's captured." Sekhmet's not sure she'll be able to kill him in cold blood though. Killing the other one was a matter of life and death, and she was furious.

[Ironsmith]

[Scorching Depths]

The guards collectively nod and start back toward the dungeon, with one of them splitting off to lead Flake elsewhere with the promise of cookies while they wait for Sekhmet to finish her business. Not that Flake remembers what cookies are, but the way the guard talks about them piques her interest.

When Sekhmet gets back to the dungeon, Slicer is still bound to the ceiling, silently watching her, his gag flapping slightly as he chuckles at her approach. Mendacity and Perfidy are also still here, standing back away from the demon queen as she enters, terrified of what she might do to them now.

[Fenric]

Palace of Orochi
But Sekhmet doesn't even know the story of her own namesake besides "she's some sort of lion sun goddess in Egypt." So she's especially clueless.
"I, uh, know that feeling," Sekhmet sympathizes, "Even before I was, uh, queen, I had self-proclaimed heroes, uh, trying to kill me for the 'greater good' because I'm a demon." It's hard to be a pacifist when people keep trying to murder you. But she manages.

Orochi chuckles

"Ah, heroes. They do indeed get tedious, though with the fading of my importance in the old stories there are far fewer of those these days - there at least is one benefit to having the most popular stories about you clearly state that you have already been defeated."

he shakes his head

"I doubt such stories would help you any, unfortunately."

then he smiles and finishes another cup of tea

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask about?"

[Oryza Biological Products]

Braeg grins. "That sounds like a wonderful idea." He chuckles, stepping toward the portal and humming something about a winter wonderland.

Through they go, into the endless cold of the para-elemental plane of Ice.

Ice is unusual among the inner planes in that it resembles the real world in many ways and having its very own ecosystem. The enigmatic lord of the plane has the distinction of being the only power to have succesfully defeated Inari's claims on ownership of a variety of fox, which has resulted in her respecting said power quite a bit.
Combine that with the fact that he pays no respect to the Celestial Bureaucracy, and the small domain here he has leased to the goddess of rice has become a favorite refuge of hers when the annoyances of politics become too much.

Her garden here is more modest than her main headquarters, and rather than an imposing office building there is a far more traditional pagoda and temple complex just as there are on a myriad of worlds where she is reverenced. Here and there on the grounds are white-furred foxlike beings dressed in the same style and colors of robes that Braeg sees everyday at the temple in Inside.

As soon as they both are through, Inari closes the portal. The shift from her true self to yet another avatar was seamless, and Braeg will hardly have noticed the disappearance of the filters that let him perceive her world, but we are back in the lands of three physical dimensions and everything here looks normal once more... for certain values of normal, of course.

Ah... there we are: my frozen home away from home. Most of the people you see here are native to this place, along with a few of my kitsune who favored the colder, frozen parts of their worlds. The plants you see are all either natives or products of mine designed for the cold.

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
Sekhmet is carrying the blades dropped by Spicer. Not willing to touch them, she's trapped them in a telekinetic grip where they hover a few feet from her. "Your friend is dead. I suggest the three of you start explaining before someone has to sweep up what's left of you." Flames coruscate around the head of her hammer for emphasis. She's bluffing, of course. She doesn't think she can bring herself to kill in cold blood, but she can pretend to be much hotter-blooded than she currently is.

Palace of Orochi
"No, uh, I think that's everything. Uh, thanks for the hospitality?" Sekhmet answers, finishing what's left of her tea and rising to her feet. "Would you, uh, be so kind as to show me out?" She's not quite sure how to leave this place.

[Ironsmith]

Through they go, into the endless cold of the para-elemental plane of Ice.

Ice is unusual among the inner planes in that it resembles the real world in many ways and having its very own ecosystem. The enigmatic lord of the plane has the distinction of being the only power to have succesfully defeated Inari's claims on ownership of a variety of fox, which has resulted in her respecting said power quite a bit.
Combine that with the fact that he pays no respect to the Celestial Bureaucracy, and the small domain here he has leased to the goddess of rice has become a favorite refuge of hers when the annoyances of politics become too much.

Her garden here is more modest than her main headquarters, and rather than an imposing office building there is a far more traditional pagoda and temple complex just as there are on a myriad of worlds where she is reverenced. Here and there on the grounds are white-furred foxlike beings dressed in the same style and colors of robes that Braeg sees everyday at the temple in Inside.

As soon as they both are through, Inari closes the portal. The shift from her true self to yet another avatar was seamless, and Braeg will hardly have noticed the disappearance of the filters that let him perceive her world, but we are back in the lands of three physical dimensions and everything here looks normal once more... for certain values of normal, of course.

Ah... there we are: my frozen home away from home. Most of the people you see here are native to this place, along with a few of my kitsune who favored the colder, frozen parts of their worlds. The plants you see are all either natives or products of mine designed for the cold.

[Para-Elemental Plane of Ice (PEPoI)]

Braeg smirks, vaguely amused. "Strange to think of one of these beauties-" He stops to cup one of the aforementioned flowers in his hand, "-as a product, isn't it?" He smiles and gives it a little sniff. "No, these are works of art, aren't they? I'm certain there were all sorts of challenges involved in making something this beautiful that would endure in a place this cold... surely you take some pride in them?"

Scorching Depths
Sekhmet is carrying the blades dropped by Spicer. Not willing to touch them, she's trapped them in a telekinetic grip where they hover a few feet from her. "Your friend is dead. I suggest the three of you start explaining before someone has to sweep up what's left of you." Flames coruscate around the head of her hammer for emphasis. She's bluffing, of course. She doesn't think she can bring herself to kill in cold blood, but she can pretend to be much hotter-blooded than she currently is.

[Scorching Depths]

"Mmmn mmrm mm mphm mbn m. Pbm mmmnm, bmmmn nm mmf. Mmm mrm mm-mm 'mmf, mnm mmmrpm mmn', mm mmnm mm; mmmnm mfm ml 'mmm~♡' mnmn mnm mmm 'mph!' mrbm mmpn mmbn. Mrm mn?"

Perfidy and Mendacity look up at the bound demon, back down at Sekhmet, and up at the demon again, then to each other, before saying to Sekhmet at the same time, "Don't you believe a word of that!".

"We were just trying to-" "Had no idea that-" "As fast as we could-" "-didn't want-" "-had no choice-" "ask Aggravate, he'll confirm it for us!" The succubi add, talking over each other.