Planeside 3

[bc56]

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Sekhmet raises a hand as if to stop Braon, and then lowers it.
Perhaps she just wants the fiendling out of her hair. She can find other spies, it's not an uncommon skillset among succubi. The portal remains open as fiendling and succubus both cross through. They're in the mountains somewhere, in a rugged highland meadow. Red, yellow, and purple wildflowers dot the narrow field, and a pine forest covers the slope downhill from the pair... But perhaps the rest of this story would be better told elsewhere.

[Ironsmith]

[The Pecatorium]

Mania shivers and rubs her hands over her arms in an attempt to warm up, bouncing back and forth on her feet. The room she's in is ungodly cold; if there was a block of ice present, she'd huddle up on it for the warmth. The air itself is unnaturally stiff and crisp, giving her a view clear to the horizon. The polished marble tile under her bare feet somehow feels even colder, such that she can only stand to touch it for a split-second at a time.

But despite this horrific chill surrounding her, Mania has something else on her mind, which is even more unsettling:

She's not supposed to be here.

She recognizes this room, with its icily white tile floors and the wood panelling on the walls, too cramped and eerily empty at the same time. This is a waiting room of sorts for souls awaiting trial, one she's been in once before.

This has to be some devil's idea of a joke. She's already been tried. They probably intended to mock her by "trying" her again, beginning her pre-execution torture by categorically going over what a wretch she was.

Not funny.

Fortunately, she's not going to be alone in this room for very long.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Pecatorium]

-and transitions back as the darkness pulls back, starting at the point in-between her eyes until both the rest of her and the pecatorium around her has been revealed.

From Mania's point of view two inky-black eyes descend from the above and then she's suddenly just there. Up to Mania's player if she actually fell flat on the floor or is actually standing though.

Either way, Jaahlyn shakes her tail and the bauble she has strapped to it starts to illuminate the area around her. This is a guide-light, one used to guide souls through the underworld. To Mania it will take on a color that she finds comforting and it will even seem warm to her which will be especially useful in a place like this luckily enough.

"Mania?" Jaahlyn asks out loud as she beginning to get her bearings.

[Ironsmith]

[Pecatorium]

Mania tenses as she turns to face the familiar voice, though with as badly as she's shivering, it'll be hard to tell. She's not close enough to Jaahlyn for this to be a ploy on the devils' part. Which means this is the actual Pecatorium and she's actually going to go to trial in a few minutes.

She can't decide if that's better than the alternative.

"J-J-J-Jaahlyn?!" Mania begins, still shuddering even as she's warmed by the soft orange light. "W-what are y-y-you doing h-here?"

Oh, right. Mania might have missed the memo about Jaahlyn being a psychopomp.

[Shadowcaller]

[Pecatorium]

"You died so I had to make you go to the proper place instead of..." The satyr looks confused though, looking at Mania as if trying to spot something out of place. "You're whole. Is that how things work here? You're exactly the same as when you were alive?" Didn't really sound much like death to her to be frank. If nothing was lost in the process itself seemed almost arbitrary. Sure, there was pain and such but here Mania was. Exactly the way she had died, just... freezing.

...

Right.

She holds out her tail before the succubus. The guide-light making any soul feel warm regardless of how cold it was. "Warm yourself." If Mania does so, Jaahlyn will spend a moment looking around. "So where are we exactly?"

[Ironsmith]

[Pecatorium]

Oh. So Mania has Jaahlyn to thank for the pre-execution humiliation. Lovely.

Still, as Mania warms herself by the guidelight and starts being able to feel her fingers and toes again, she has to concede that the satyr at least had good intentions. She just didn't understand how this afterlife worked, and therefore the futility of her actions.

"This is the Pecatorium." She begins, massaging her arms and trying to get some feeling back in them. "It's where souls like me come when we die for the first time. Good souls ultimately end up in Elysium, which is a kind of paradise from what I hear. Bad souls end up in the Lethean Abyss... which is even less friendly a place than it sounds. The Pecatorium is where the people in charge of this sort of thing determine which is which." She shakes her head sadly. "I don't know what you did, exactly, but last time I was here, the trial I got ended with me stuck in the Abyss. Having spent fifty years as a demon, I don't see things going any better this time around."

The room is mostly bare, just as Jaahlyn had seen on first arriving, but there is a little furniture in here; a leather-topped bench, pressed up against the back wall, and not much else. The bench looks like it's sized for three people, and should be at least a little more comfortable than standing on the ice-cold marble floor.

[Shadowcaller]

[Pecatorium]

Jaahlyn sits down on the ground right next to Mania and listens. If she had any scruples about Mania being nude she sure didn't show it. But then again, she had seen that plenty of times already so she might just be used to it at this point.

"So... it's a court?" The satyr asks rhetorically, seemingly just as surprised as when she found out Mania still seemed to be herself. "But when... if you become a demon or... you don't actually die?" So everyone was immortal in Mania's world? It didn't make any sense.

"I just... what are you judged on exactly? I cut off your connection to the abyss since I didn't think you belonged there." She readily admits. "It sounds like an awful place so I don't understand what you could have done to be sent down there."

[Ironsmith]

[Pecatorium]

"...To be perfectly honest..." Mania sighs, shivering. "...I'm not sure what to make of the reasons they gave." It's not entirely intentional on her part, but with Jaahlyn being the only source of warmth in the room, Mania ends up leaning into her, and she's already at the head-on-shoulder phase. "They said I lacked mercy. I'm... I don't know how that even applies. It's not like, at any point in my life, I had my hands on anyone's proverbial throat or... or anything like that." She shuffles nervously. "...I could see where they're coming from if they said as much now, since I had to be kind of ruthless as a succubus, but before then..." She shakes her head.

[Shadowcaller]

[Pecatorium]

Jaahlyn was not used to talk to the dead so having Mania leaning on her felt odd to say the least.

It wasn't like the broken pieces she guided couldn't feel or talk. It was just that they were just that. Either just scream and crying or just talking without any real emotion. Pieces of a person, decaying fractions of the ego which no longer existed. Like the surviving pieces of a painting that had been mostly burned away. Not like the actual person that sat besides her right now.

The satyr puts an arm around the succubus in hope that it would give Mania at least some comfort. Some shelter.
She had heard that the harvester was supposed to take care of the harvest at some point and now that saying made a lot more sense to her.

Though what Mania describes brings a fire to her voice. "Lacked mercy? Says the one's condemning people to be tortured forever." It was the most hypocritical thing Jaahlyn had ever heard in her life. Was this some kind of cosmic joke? Not that she was terribly surprised. Beings such as that always seemed inherently cruel.

[Recaiden]

[Brefaisil]

Marcie's plan works, in the sense that it prevents Fraochun from trapping her entirely. However, she's still dealing with an intelligent creature intent on trapping her; whenever her complicated route involves backtracking, Fraochun will close off the exit she comes through, so that the re-visited room has two fewer exits available to it as a result; the first when Fraochun picks a random direction on Marcie's first visit, and the second when she blocks off leaving the same way on Marcie's second. If Marcie notices this and concludes that she can't backtrack, the problem will get worse after a while; Fraochun will notice the same thing, and treat the rooms Marcie came from as though they were sealed off (since Marcie can't go that way safely), and therefore consistently end up cutting off the southern exit, as it never suits Marcie to go back north.

This leaves two options, equally bad; either Fraochun will gradually spin her into a chamber with no viable exits, or she'll block off all the routes that lead south in a sheer wall of webbing (and eventually spin her into a chamber with no viable exits). If Marcie wants to escape, she'll need to find a clever workaround.

Well, this has slowed the Weaver catching her. But she's not fast enough to gain distance, and the weaver apparently has no problem keeping track of where she is.
Without a lot of parallel exits and a larger space to move around in, this won't work.
Marcie will have to cheat to get out. Or at least try harder, since all's fair in a horrible human-eating spider maze scenario.
First, she taps her feet precisely on the floor, and then lifts slightly off the ground. She can move much faster hovering like this. Secondly, she folds time around her, in a hopefully controlled and spider-free way, collecting several seconds to spend all at once, so she can seemingly zip from place to place in an instant.
Then, it's adding some easterly motion into the plan.

[Prison Realm]

The wall starts to crack as the child-headed ogre on the other side of it tries to smash its way through, screaming as it burns, though it gives up on the attempt and collapses. It's no longer screaming, so if Kiun reduces the flame she's wielding- or outright cancels it- she'll be able to see through the doorway. One of the guardians has collapsed into a heap, badly burnt and scorched.

The other is further back, holding the Bishop by an ankle. He's limp, but currently breathing; she turns towards Kiun and smiles.

The flames stop streaming out from her, and she looks at the scene.
Ah, the other ogre thinks it has a hostage. Poor Bishop. It's such a shame that he got caught.
What would Haru suggest to her, she considers for a moment. Attack the ogre anyway. You can bring him to the Pit, and if that doesn't work, his body will still be useful. Well, that's all true enough, but Kiun doesn't like it. Surely she can find a better way than that. Her main skills are flying, fire, friendliness, and mind control. Well, when she thinks of it that way, it's pretty obvious.
"Put him down." she says. Her voice is shaky, but there's a strong, if clumsy, compulsion to obey anyway.

[Ironsmith]

[Pecatorium]

Jaahlyn was not used to talk to the dead so having Mania leaning on her felt odd to say the least.

It wasn't like the broken pieces she guided couldn't feel or talk. It was just that they were just that. Either just scream and crying or just talking without any real emotion. Pieces of a person, decaying fractions of the ego which no longer existed. Like the surviving pieces of a painting that had been mostly burned away. Not like the actual person that sat besides her right now.

The satyr puts an arm around the succubus in hope that it would give Mania at least some comfort. Some shelter.
She had heard that the harvester was supposed to take care of the harvest at some point and now that saying made a lot more sense to her.

Though what Mania describes brings a fire to her voice. "Lacked mercy? Says the one's condemning people to be tortured forever." It was the most hypocritical thing Jaahlyn had ever heard in her life. Was this some kind of cosmic joke? Not that she was terribly surprised. Beings such as that always seemed inherently cruel.

[Pecatorium]

"I know, right?" Mania sighs, burying the back of her head in Jaahlyn's chest. "Whatever twisted sense of morality these people subscribe to, I'm pretty sure I'm doomed either way. The trial's just a formality so they can make me feel bad about it first."

Around this time, the door to their little waiting room will open, and a woman in a white robe with feathery wings and a halo over her head will step in, with a clipboard in one hand and a folded-over length of black fabric in the other. "Hi!" She greets, in a way-too-cheery tone of voice. "You're Marianne, right? Marianne Van Braun?" The robed woman extends her hand first to the succubus (who reluctantly shakes it), then to Jaahlyn. "And you must be a friend! That's good to hear. Marianne didn't have one here last time." She gives the satyr a pleasant smile. "It certainly bodes well for her case. Living proof that her time as a demon may have changed her for the better." The presumed angel frowns a little and shakes her head. "Sorry, I'm being too forward about this, aren't I? Let me back up. I'm Adira, the counselor assigned to this case. Nice to meet you."

[Brefaisil]

Well, this has slowed the Weaver catching her. But she's not fast enough to gain distance, and the weaver apparently has no problem keeping track of where she is.
Without a lot of parallel exits and a larger space to move around in, this won't work.
Marcie will have to cheat to get out. Or at least try harder, since all's fair in a horrible human-eating spider maze scenario.
First, she taps her feet precisely on the floor, and then lifts slightly off the ground. She can move much faster hovering like this. Secondly, she folds time around her, in a hopefully controlled and spider-free way, collecting several seconds to spend all at once, so she can seemingly zip from place to place in an instant.
Then, it's adding some easterly motion into the plan.

[Brefaisil]

This may not be as effective as Marcie had hoped; from Fraochun's perspective, she's already teleporting from place to place. The only ones who are at all confused by this bit of temporal trickery are the actual spiders, which may yet prove beneficial but doesn't stop Fraochun from spinning webs to block her path. Between the two of them, their dynamic is more or less unchanged.

Although maybe Marcie is on to something with getting off the ground. Perhaps she can find a way to move from room to room that Fraochun can't replicate?

[Shadowcaller]

[Pecatorium]

Jaahlyn pats the succubus head and soothingly runs her hands through her hair. However, she still can't help but to feel awkward despite the tense situation. There had been dead trying to do so much more but again, not actual persons. So she wouldn't let them anywhere near her chest.

For now she mostly felt outraged though. "I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure things don't turn out like that, Mania." She promises though carrying the dead back from the underworld wasn't anything she could do.

Though she wasn't still sure if Mania could be considered 'dead' considering how alive she seemed...

She had kept occasionally glancing at that door during their conversation. Fearing that once it opened it would be too late to do anything. After all, should she just sit here and wait? Couldn't she just take Mania... elsewhere? Anywhere but here?¨

It would be desperate but since Mania was convinced it was doomed it would feel better to at least have tried.

Yet she can't bring herself to action. Not when Mania was resting on her like this and before she has time to consider it more the door finally opens. Time to face the music she supposed.

Jaahlyn will attempt to help Mania up in a standing position as she stands up herself to address... whatever this woman was.

"Jaahlyn Hesperos." She introduces herself and begrudgingly shakes the woman's hand as well.

There were a lot of questions she wanted to ask. Like why it was so cold here for one. Did they just like to punish people for simply dying?
But there were more important questions on her mind and there were to gentle ways of putting them. "Why should we, I, go along with this, Adira? Your system is cruel and merciless. Since why would anyone ever better themselves after being a demon? I was even the one that cut her free from that fate. Not you." They were the ones that had condemned her to it in the first place!

[Ironsmith]

[Pecatorium]

Mania gives the winged woman a glare that indicates she agrees wholeheartedly with what Jaahlyn is saying, but doesn't feel quite brave enough to say it herself. She remains huddled up against the satyr for warmth, vaguely reassured by her declaration that things weren't going to end so badly for her... but like Jaahlyn herself, more than a little concerned as to the "how" of the matter.

"Oh, you were?" Adira smiles and flicks out the cloth, holding out a black robe to Mania. "Well, then, I'd say I owe you some major thanks. This has the potential to be a landmark case, if we manage to win. (Put this on, dear, it's dreadfully cold this close to the Abyss.)" The angel(?) looks to Jaahlyn and gives an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Miss Hesperos, I only brought the one. I didn't expect miss Van Braun to have company. I'll be sure to get you something nice and warm before we get to the courtroom. I promise."

"Anyway, to answer your question." Adira gives a shrug and a smile. "I have no idea! Which is both a good and a bad thing, I guess. Good in that it means nobody else would have expected it, either, which would make this a terrific breakthrough. Bad in that... well, we still have to win this case in order to make that breakthrough." She gives the satyr a little pat on the shoulder. "Believe me, I want to get her acquitted, too. Both because I think she's worth saving (big fan, by the way), and because it'll help us save so many more." She tilts her head toward Jaahlyn inquisitively. "So, are you willing to help us through the system here?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Pecatorium]

"I'm not freezing." Jaahlyn claims, not quite sure she wanted to accept any gifts within this realm. This wasn't the aether but there might still be Laws within this place and she couldn't disobey the Laws.

But she listens carefully to everything Adria says. If there were Laws here as well it was important to understand them, if Adira could be believed at least.
"How can I help?" She gestures at herself. "Since unless you haven't noticed yet, I'm not exactly from around here."

[Ironsmith]

[Pecatorium]

"It's your loss. But I would highly recommend you wear something in there. There are going to be enough reasons to be uncomfortable as it is." Adira puts an arm behind Jaahlyn and Mania and starts leading them out of the room. "In any case, you'll be up there as a character witness. Someone who can attest to the sorts of qualities that would earn her entry into Elysium."

"That's a bit of a tall order, isn't it?" Mania interjects, shrugging on the robe. "Isn't there a way you could just send me back to the Nexus?"

"We can't keep doing that." Adira replies with a little shrug. "That's just rejecting you from Elysium in all but name. We might as well just go in there and plead 'guilty', it'll cause less of a mess." Adira turns her attention back to Jaahlyn. "Now, there are two qualities they're going to look for in order to grant her entry; Mercy and Humility. The devil prosecution will try to obfuscate the issue; they'll try to play up everything else. They'll focus on less important things; her kill count as a demon and her promiscuity, for instance. Don't fall for it."

[Rebonack]

[Moirai]

Harry slaps the huge wyrm with her mace and-!

Well.

It doesn't do a great deal.

Mostly because this creature is very large. It doesn't seem to like it a great deal, though, and responds by lashing out at Harry with its multitude of pointy legs. The leg-thrashing is mostly just meant to distract Harry long enough for it to follow up with a devastating combat belly-flop at her. The weight of such a beast crashing down on someone would typically squash a human, but should Harry find herself pummeled she's going to discover just how resilient she is.

It won't be pleasant.

But it won't be lethal, either.

Magdalene, meanwhile, latches onto the dragonfly with a salvo of toothed vines and yanks the monster up into her personal space. That's shortly followed by a skull-totem bursting out of the ground and lashing at the monster with hungering power. Magdalene's combat style really isn't very mobile. Mostly she just sets up a veritable fortress and stands her ground.

Thankfully Magdalene's actions disrupt whatever awful thing Anaxparthenope was doing, causing the mind-numbing haze to begin waning.

[Shadowcaller]

[Pecatorium]

"I am wearing something." Jaahlyn insists though holds the guide light close to herself for warmth as the clothes she had weren't really doing anything. It might be supernaturally cold here but she had supernatural warmth which only really functioned down here. In the waking world it was more of a will-o'wisp.
"Can't you summon people that have known her or that sort of thing instead? I've only known her for a few days." Seemed a bit desperate honestly. Were they honestly going to base the decision if she was going to be tortured forever or not based on a casual acquaintance? This sounded like a disaster. Psychopomps were all about interacting with the negative aspects of people. She'd do a much better job working for the persecution here honestly.

[Ironsmith]

[Pecatorium]

"Believe me, I would certainly like to." Adira replies. "But we've got a shallow pool of people to draw from. The verdict on her first life has already been passed down, and we can't overturn it, so the people who only knew her as Marianne Van Braun would be quite useless to us. We'll need people who knew her as a demon... and while I can certainly think of two or three prominent names, they're all at large, and quite obviously beyond our reach. Which may be for the better; no sense in putting all of our metalhead eggs in one basket. To say nothing of their unavailability due to the mortality clause... which around here is a euphemistic way of saying 'they can't come here because they're still alive'." She shakes her head sadly. "So we need someone who is either dead or can come here freely despite being alive, won't be at much risk themselves, and knew Mania as a demon. That's going to be a very short list."

[Shadowcaller]

[Pecatorium]

"I honestly don't understand why you have to judge them at all." In Jaahlyn's mind life was very much unfair but at least in death everyone would be equal. Here it didn't seem to work that way though. "But... in that case, could I have a few words in private with Mania here first if I'm supposed to act as a witness?" She gestures at the succubus.

Not sure why she was even asking considering she was planning to do it either way. Just an old habit she supposed.

[Ironsmith]

[Pecatorium]

"Of course. We'll need all the advantages we can get to win this case." Adira agrees. "Within the bounds of ethics, of course. If we actually manage to run afoul of the rules of the Pecatorium, the devils will be all over it. But apart from that, go nuts." The angel(?) gives Jaahlyn a polite little bow. "I'll give you a few minutes. If you need anything, I'll be just outside." She holds open a nearby door and ushers Jaahlyn and Mania inside, before closing up behind them.

"Well." Mania begins, making her way over to the bench in the room and taking a seat, flicking out her tail behind her. "I guess that cements it. I'm mulch."

[bc56]

The Court of Lights
The first thing one would notice is light. This whole place is suffused with radiance. After a few moments for the eyes to adjust, more can be seen, but not clearly. Rather, the mind fills in the blanks to make sense of a wash of shapes and colors. There's a throne, or a seat on a raised platform, at least. Someone is there, but the details are difficult to make out exactly. He clearly has a sword and a pair of scales, both at rest at the side of the chair. He seems old, but it's impossible to tell how old.
Various lesser lights flit around positions in the room, blindingly bright. It doesn't take long to realize that these are angels, but compared to them, Mercy is dim and tarnished, while these are bright, pure lights.
What is this? A living mortal in my court?"
The voice is almost, but not quite painfully loud and perfectly clear despite it. The rest of the room snaps into focus as a courtroom, not in the modern sense of the word, but the old sense, the room in which a king would hold court

[Recaiden]

[Brefaisil]

This may not be as effective as Marcie had hoped; from Fraochun's perspective, she's already teleporting from place to place. The only ones who are at all confused by this bit of temporal trickery are the actual spiders, which may yet prove beneficial but doesn't stop Fraochun from spinning webs to block her path. Between the two of them, their dynamic is more or less unchanged.

Although maybe Marcie is on to something with getting off the ground. Perhaps she can find a way to move from room to room that Fraochun can't replicate?

Okay, so it's not just by following her spider minions that Fraochun is keeping track of her. Another slightly failed idea, another piece of information.
And...Fraochun can presumably climb around like any spider, but Marcie can fly. Any open or vertical spaces in here are to her advantage. There must be some here in this vast abandoned maze (ah, how it would help to have a map of the place!). She keeps an eye out for any places she could go that the weaver might have trouble following. Or floors or ceilings that might be a little more breakable than their surroundings.

[The Court of Lights]

The first thing one would notice is light. This whole place is suffused with radiance. After a few moments for the eyes to adjust, more can be seen, but not clearly. Rather, the mind fills in the blanks to make sense of a wash of shapes and colors. There's a throne, or a seat on a raised platform, at least. Someone is there, but the details are difficult to make out exactly. He clearly has a sword and a pair of scales, both at rest at the side of the chair. He seems old, but it's impossible to tell how old.
Various lesser lights flit around positions in the room, blindingly bright. It doesn't take long to realize that these are angels, but compared to them, Mercy is dim and tarnished, while these are bright, pure lights.
What is this? A living mortal in my court?"
The voice is almost, but not quite painfully loud and perfectly clear despite it. The rest of the room snaps into focus as a courtroom, not in the modern sense of the word, but the old sense, the room in which a king would hold court

Alice steps through her improvised planar portal, which quickly crumbles to bits of metal dust.
Serromech recovery rates within normal parameters...

Light levels high but acceptable.

Attempting visual correction...

Correction not possible. Remain vigilant.

"Yes, hello. I'm here to deliver a pair of legal notices, from VIGIL, in the world called Nexus."
After a few moments blinking at the light and straining at the voice, Alice lifts a hand and waves to the angels. So bright. Apparently not used to mortals, either.

[Shadowcaller]

[Pecatorium]

"Of course. We'll need all the advantages we can get to win this case." Adira agrees. "Within the bounds of ethics, of course. If we actually manage to run afoul of the rules of the Pecatorium, the devils will be all over it. But apart from that, go nuts." The angel(?) gives Jaahlyn a polite little bow. "I'll give you a few minutes. If you need anything, I'll be just outside." She holds open a nearby door and ushers Jaahlyn and Mania inside, before closing up behind them.

"Well." Mania begins, making her way over to the bench in the room and taking a seat, flicking out her tail behind her. "I guess that cements it. I'm mulch."

[Pecatorium]

"We have come this far. Might as well try playing by their rules first and if that fails... well, I'll find out how effective my scythe is against the demons and angels of your world at least." She had her doubts of that tactic but she couldn't just let them drag her down there.

"Anyway, we should consider what their arguments are going to be so we can prepare counterarguments ahead of time. So... uh, try to tell me all the 'bad' things that you've done which you can remember. Also, they're likely going to have witnesses too so consider who has the most reason to be pissed at you?" The satyr inquires.

[Ironsmith]

[Brefaisil]


Okay, so it's not just by following her spider minions that Fraochun is keeping track of her. Another slightly failed idea, another piece of information.
And...Fraochun can presumably climb around like any spider, but Marcie can fly. Any open or vertical spaces in here are to her advantage. There must be some here in this vast abandoned maze (ah, how it would help to have a map of the place!). She keeps an eye out for any places she could go that the weaver might have trouble following. Or floors or ceilings that might be a little more breakable than their surroundings.

[Brefaisil]

Marcie will find her attention again drawn to the crystal floors and cielings of each of these rooms; they may not be fragile, exactly, but they're potentially smashable. Of course, if Marcy stops and can't manage it, she'll only be giving Fraochun time to box her in...

Decisions, decisions.

[Pecatorium]

"We have come this far. Might as well try playing by their rules first and if that fails... well, I'll find out how effective my scythe is against the demons and angels of your world at least." She had her doubts of that tactic but she couldn't just let them drag her down there.

"Anyway, we should consider what their arguments are going to be so we can prepare counterarguments ahead of time. So... uh, try to tell me all the 'bad' things that you've done which you can remember. Also, they're likely going to have witnesses too so consider who has the most reason to be pissed at you?" The satyr inquires.

[Pecatorium]

Mania lets out a little sigh and gives a reluctant nod. "I suppose I don't have much of a choice in the matter. All right." She takes a deep, calming breath and leans up against the back wall, shuddering as her back presses up against it. "The lady said they're mostly going to be focusing on my demonic afterlife, right? If that's the case, I can think of..." She pauses to count out the numbers, tapping at the air with her finger. "Twelve, maybe thirteen hundred people who might be pissed at me, yeah. Good god, has it really been that many? Holy [crap]."

The succubus sighs and puts her hand to her forehead. "I should be clearer about this. All Lethean demons exist for one reason and one reason only; to ensure the continual flow of souls to the Abyss. We're given a quota to fill out each year; bring one person to the Abyss on your first year, two on your second, and so on." Mania rubs at her neck nervously. "I've been a demon for fifty years. It... it adds up. And since we operate on a yearly basis, we obviously don't really get the luxury of tempting someone into a life of sin and then just waiting around for them to kick the proverbial bucket... Not at my age, at least..." She shakes her head sadly.

"...You know why we picked the name 'DEATHKISS'?" Mania asks suddenly. "It's something most demons can relate to, see. Our saliva's a deadly poison to mortals. It's a... a quick and ever-present way of killing someone. In case we really need it." She hugs herself and shudders. "Have you ever done that, Jaahlyn? Held someone in your arms, maybe in their bed, or dancing somewhere quiet. Spend the evening, or longer, whispering sweet nothings in their ear. Held them as tight as you can manage, and then just... kissed them goodnight? They just sort of... of snuff out, you know? They're your partner for a moment and then they're just..." She trails off. "...At least it's painless. I think that's the closest we're going to get to an argument that I've been merciful."

[bc56]

Court of Lights
"Intriguing. I will see these documents, to what matter do they pertain?" the divine figure speaks in the way that suggests he might already know the answer but wants to hear it from someone else's mouth.

[Shadowcaller]

[Pecatorium]

Jaahlyn didn't consider herself great at math. In fact, there seemed to be something of an assumption that most fey weren't great at using such a elegant method of logic as they had gotten into their heads that fey were 'anti-logical' somehow. Whatever that was supposed to mean.

But if she assumed that half of everyone dead got sent down to the abyss (which was generous considering how heavily the odds seemed stacked against them). Then all those people turned into demons which lived forever and were supposed to bring more and more souls into the abyss each year by killing them...

There was obviously something she had misunderstood or there would be hordes of demons (and probably angels too if they represented the other side in this) fighting over each mortal in Mania's homeworld.

But that was not something she wanted to bring up just yet as Mania was sharing what must have been a traumatic experience for her. "No, can't say I do." She admits, since surely she would remember something as awful as that. She was pretty sure she couldn't even kiss someone to death.

"But then... why would you pick that name for the band?" It was a off-topic but she simply had to know. Who would to be reminded by that?

[Ironsmith]

[Pecatorium]

"Well, that's... a bit weird." Mania replies, poking her fingers together. "When we first came together, we were a band of demons, for demons. None of us had any idea how to get out. None of us were even willing to try. Even Malady couldn't see it happening. At the time, we were the only game in town. We didn't have a name, didn't need one, if someone asked for music, they knew who would be providing it." She shrugs. "When we finally did leave... we were still thinking like demons and we wanted a reminder of what we were getting away from. At the time, Euphoria and I were worried we might end up slipping back into old habits, despite not needing them anymore. This way, the implications would always be at the forefront of our minds."

"Yes, I know that's cheesy as all hell." Mania adds, crossing her arms. "And it's also not especially relevant to the case, is it? Sorry. Near-death experiences put me in a bit of a reflective mood. Actual death, even more so."

[Shadowcaller]

[Pecatorium]

"It was just curious honestly but maybe it could be useful actually. Touching honestly, if that means anything to these... people." She had hesitated on giving them the benefit of the term.
"Shows that you wanted to turn around and do something better." Whatever counted as 'better' to them considering that promiscuity was apparently considered some kind of offense.

Jaahlyn then pauses for a longer time.

She wanted to ask how many times Mania had died, since she seemed to have some experience with it, but ultimately decided it would be irrelevant here. Better to follow her other train of thought. "So that woman, Adira, said that our opponents might bring up your promiscuity so what can you tell me about that? Be as open as you like, I don't mind."

[Ironsmith]

[Pecatorium]

"Well, I'm not sure how these people feel about polyamory, but for a start, the band and I were... close." Mania replies, putting a meaningful lilt on the word. "Yeah, that part wasn't just branding. If you ever end up spending any amount of time as a demon, you end up developing a pretty strong appetite. Euphoria had it worst, being half a millennium old and all, but we were all sort of cut off from anyone else. And... well, we were intimate in the more innocent sense, too. It just sort of made sense."

Mania shrugs. "But honestly, I think they're going to focus more on what I did while we still lived in the Abyss. I got around up here; no surprise, it was my job to do that. But that's nothing compared to a week in the Abyss. Hundreds of demons of differing sexes in the same room, after the same thing, and all of them insatiable. Yes, that included me." She winces. "Outsiders looking in are probably going to be pretty disgusted. Especially the holier-than-thou types who run this place."

"So... yeah. When they say I was promiscuous, it's an understatement."

[Recaiden]

[Brefaisil]

Marcie will find her attention again drawn to the crystal floors and cielings of each of these rooms; they may not be fragile, exactly, but they're potentially smashable. Of course, if Marcy stops and can't manage it, she'll only be giving Fraochun time to box her in...

Decisions, decisions.

Things have to change to make progress.
Judging that it will be easier to exert force against the ground, Marcie finds a likely-looking patch of crystal, finds up, and punches the floor, using magical energy to amplify the force of the blow beyond anything reasonable or indeed possible to achieve normally.

[Court of Lights]

"Intriguing. I will see these documents, to what matter do they pertain?" the divine figure speaks in the way that suggests he might already know the answer but wants to hear it from someone else's mouth.

Going through with the process...
"It's to do with the crimes of the angel of mercy generally called 'Sapphira'."
Alice will hold out a stack of printed documents.
First is a notice of the many, many crimes Mercy is accused of and her upcoming trial (date to-be-determined).
The second is a request for an angel of love who previously appeared in the nexus to return and testify.