GLoG 94: Good place to grow up

[Ironsmith]

[Hawthorn Cabin]

"Since I'll be locked up in the next fifteen minutes, I don't really see a point. But..." She wraps her jacket's arms around her waist and ties them off, before turning it so it was open from the back instead of the front, giving her tail a little room to move and sparing her some amount of immodesty. "There we go. We can leave whenever you're ready."

[bc56]

Hawthorn Cabin
Sekhmet is wearing an awful lot of clothes by comparison, a heavy coat, a long skirt, warm boots, and and a wooly scarf. It's not that cold to any humans, but for a fiery being like her it feels colder. "Are you sure that you don't want any clothes? It would be more comfortable and, uh, you might need it later."

[Ironsmith]

[Hawthorn Cabin => Aspen Cabin]

"Like I said, it'll be kind of pointless." Miranda explains on the way out the door. "Sleeping pods are designed for the occupant to be nude. Anything you give me now is coming off again when I get there." She hugs herself a little in response to a stiff breeze. "Fhfhfh... the only upshot would be not having to deal with wind chill on the way up, which just isn't worth the time."

When they get up to the cabin, Miranda reaches for her key, only to realize that particular item had been in her pants pocket and she therefore no longer possessed it. "...Great. Sorry, this'll take just a second."

kwam!

Miranda holds open the latchless door for the demon queen. Privileges of rank and all of that.

Thankfully, Miranda had requested a cabin to herself when she first joined GLoG, and it looks like that's what she got. The aforementioned sleeping pod is parked in one of the bedrooms, door slightly ajar and with a vague scent of vanilla floating around it. Other than that, the cabin looks to mostly be left exactly as it would have been when Miranda first moved in; the stovetop is immaculately clean, the chairs are all in display positions, and so on. The only other piece of abnormal technology is an unidentified fogging canister on a table in the kitchen, which judging by the "Dust-B-Gon" label, ensured that not even shedding from Miranda's skin was going to be evidence of her being here. Finally, if Sekhmet would care to look at the fridge, she'll see Miranda has recieved a few crayon drawings from some of her charges at the daycare, and enshrined them with a set of alphabet magnets.

"Well. Welcome to my hat-hanging place." Miranda shrugs, peeling her tank top (she's still wearing a sports bra) and heading for the bedroom.

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin
"You sleep in that?" Sekhmet has a very distinct distaste for the cocoon-like contraption. It reminds her of a traumatic experience she had in her ascension to the throne, though she's not about to talk about it.

[Ironsmith]

[Aspen Cabin]

"Well, yeah." Miranda replies with a shrug, continuing to strip, totally oblivious to Sekhmet's past trauma. "It's more cozy than most people assume. Kind of like... have you ever drawn a nice, warm bath for yourself, gotten in the tub, and fallen asleep because it's just that relaxing? It's sort of like that, only even more so." She tucks her clothes into her Hotbox and flushes them away, attaching the device to a socket on the back of the pod. "The gel helps distribute heat evenly, so you don't get any hot or cold spots, and it's viscous enough to provide support for your spine so you don't wake up stiff... and that's not even considering the nanites embedded in it or their healing properties. All in all, a definite step up from wrapping yourself in fabrics and laying on a box of springs." She smiles and steps into the pod, leaning against the back wall and letting out a content sigh.

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin
"You're not afraid you'll get stuck? Or that you'll drown?" Sekhmet spent subjective thousands of years in a magical cocoon as part of her ascension to the throne. She'd rather not do anything like that ever again.

[Ironsmith]

[Aspen Cabin]

"I mean, for tonight at least, the goal is to get stuck, so not really." Miranda shrugs. "But on any other night, it still wouldn't be an issue. There are internal failsafe switches here in case the door gets jammed, which causes it to pop off, hinges and all, as well as a few emergency panels on the back. And even if that failed, the gel itself repairs cellular damage while the occupant sleeps, among other things. As a side effect of that, it can see to my metabolic needs for about a week before it needs to be changed out; something the pod will do automatically while my Hotbox is hooked up. The gel is breathable and oxygenated, so I can't drown in it any more easily than I could out there. And if there's a catastrophic failure at any point, a low-amp current is enough to cause the gel to boil into a harmless vapor." She smiles and closes the pod behind her, a speaker at the base of the pod continuing to squak out what she's saying. "I'm not in any more danger of drowning here than you are of smothering yourself with your pillow."

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin
Miranda probably shouldn't have mentioned that escape mechanism. But that's not relevant... Yet.
"I guess I, uh, can't stop you, but it's, uh, odd to me." She'll leave Miranda to go to sleep and get back to her own warm bed with her husband."

[Ironsmith]

[Aspen Cabin]

Miranda settles into the pod and watches as Sekhmet leaves, before she starts muttering to herself. "Don't you fricking dare." She says, to nobody but that voice in her head. "That's my brain you're borrowing. I can feel the wheels turning up there. Haven't you caused enough trouble?"

Maybe Lizzie will at least be temporarily distracted by Miranda's reflection in the glass door. This'll be the first time she's seen her whole body, after all.

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin
"Yes it is. Which means when you go to sleep, so will I." Lizzie lies. "But look at what you'd be giving up without me. We look great together!" She tries to draw Miranda's attention to her reflection. "We could have so much fun together! But in serious discussion, when you see 'Queen' Sekhmet again, do yourself a favor and ask her what she did to help Rose. She isn't telling you all your options." Lizzie mentally winks at Miranda.

[Ironsmith]

[Aspen Cabin]

Images of Miranda's coworker flash through her mind as the coincidence brings a few memories to the surface, but she calms her brain back down reasonably quickly. "Looks aren't everything." She retorts. "And as long as you're with me, I'm as dangerous to be around as you are. And you've made it painfully clear your intentions aren't benign." Her hand curls into a fist as the stares into her refelction, some part of her imagining that as Lizzie standing in front of her. "Maybe Sekhmet is a dubious person to trust. But you're definitely not trustworthy."

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin
"Hmpf. Sweet dreams," Lizzie replies, implying that Miranda's protests are mere dreams. Then she falls silent and waits for her host to fall asleep.

[Ironsmith]

[Aspen Cabin]

It doesn't take long for that to happen. Miranda is very comfortable in here and she's a little behind on sleep anyway. She starts to nod off before realizing she's practically left the door wide open for Lizzie to leave. The door was latchless, the pod was unlocked, and she didn't see Sekhmet leave any guards behind.

So, half and hour later, with a new doorknob and lock installed on the door, an autolock on the pod, and a freshly-smashed thumb, Miranda falls asleep, leaving Lizzie to try her worst tonight.

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin

With Miranda asleep, Lizzie has control. Her first order of business is to try the emergency escape lever Miranda so helpfully told her about. If that fails, she'll manifest a blowtorch-like flame and attempt to cut her way out.

[Ironsmith]

[Aspen Cabin]

Miranda told her the escape panels exist, not where they are and how to trigger them. Lizzie might have gotten a vague ides from her mind, but it seems the autolock is designed with the usual bailing features in mind; that's a whole new layer of security associated with that, and the usual catches and levers don't work anymore.

If Lizzie gets desperate enough to try blowtorching her way out, she's going to be in for a rude awakening; the gel will actively smother any flame she produces, up until a certain temperature. Then the heat will conflict badly with the oxygenated substance, causing it to ignite and, in an enclosed environment like this, probably explode. Given that some of it is in Miranda's lungs right now, that's a good way to messily destroy her host body, and she's probably not getting a new one.

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin
A nuisance, and a setback, nothing more. Lizzie has never really been desperate this whole time.
Let's see...
She could punch through the glass... No, that would probably wake Miranda up.
She could teleport out... Except she doesn't have complete enough control of this body to safely do so.
She doesn't have a ton of options right now. So she lets Miranda's body relax and turns her attention to silently watching her victim's dreams, looking for anything she could use while the mind is in this less aware and guarded state.

[Ironsmith]

[Aspen Cabin]

Tonight, Miranda's dreams seem like a mixed bag of truly bizarre nonsense, recreations of traumatic events (including more examples of being forced to kill in the line of duty, which she fixates on much more than the surrounding context), and a few dreams of the sort a succubus like Lizzie would probably find entertaining, if only for the sheer randomness of the pairings therein. Or maybe that's a side effect of Lizzie's alterations.

Nothing especially enlightening for now. And as with most people, Miranda probably isn't going to remember most of these. She's also not really reacting to any of it; she'll sleep soundly for the time being, unless Lizzie decides to mess with her.

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin
Lizzie is interested in those sorts of dreams, yes. But not to watch. She enters the dream herself, replacing Miranda's various partners. She also makes some slight tweaks to the dream state, so that Miranda will dream herself in the shape Lizzie bestowed on her.
Unfortunately even with the alterations, Miranda may not remember the dreams clearly. Lizzie's mostly hoping for a subconscious effect.

[Ironsmith]

[Aspen Cabin]

That does indeed have an effect, though maybe not the one Lizzie's hoping for.

Entering Miranda's dreams as herself will cause the mood to shift from "erotic" to "bizarre", invariably sweeping out the more curtain-y elements in the process. Lizzie will go from Miranda indulging an unconfessed attraction to the head of Vigil to riding a pair of rhinos (extinct on her world) through an ocean of marshmallows, on an epic quest to get home so she can finish her math homework before the test on Tuesday.

Altering Miranda's dream avatar, on the other hand, causes the whole scene to fall apart. She'll drop whatever she's doing as soon as she's aware of the change in appearance, and will find herself surrounded by her colleagues (named and unnamed) who point at her, still nude, laughing and jeering at her. She can't get away from them no matter where she turns, and she wants to, badly. The dream will then devolve into standard nightmarish helplessness; falling through a void, her teeth falling out, driving blindfolded through a busy street, all that kind of thing. This isn't enough to wake her, but it's clearly uncomfortable.

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin
This is almost better than planned.
As Miranda rides desperately to get home, Lizzie is there alongside her.
As all Miranda's friends mock and scorn her, Lizzie is there to remind her of how attractive she is. Clearly, they are all jealous of her.
But dreams, like all good things, must come to an end eventually.

[Ironsmith]

[Aspen Cabin]

Accompanying Miranda in her nonsensical dreams really doesn't accomplish much; with all the psychological noise going on in there, exerting influence seems... unlikely.

However, Lizzie will gain an important insight when she tries to tell Miranda her friends are all jealous of her:

SLAP

Wow. Statement rejected hard. Lizzie will get this result even if she elects to show up as someone else; Miranda doesn't care for the idea that her tampered-with body is at all improved, it seems.

If Lizzie doesn't have any more prodding to do, Miranda will wake up in a few hours, refreshed and suffering no apparent adverse effects from the previous night's shenanigans. The only item of concern would be the flesh-colored slurry at her feet where the gel had repeatedly attempted to deconstruct her tail and other alterations. Though if Lizzie can make them show up in the first place, she can probably also make them regrow.

Since she's locked in, Miranda's sort of alone with her thoughts (and anyone piggybacking on them) until someone comes to check on her or let her out. Which is just fine with her; this pod is relaxing.

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin
Someone will arrive a couple hours later and knock on the repaired cabin door.
Unfortunately, Miranda can't exactly answer the door, can she?
The knocking gets more insistent

[Ironsmith]

[Aspen Cabin]

The person at the door will notice an oddity in the knob; it's been installed backwards, to allow for locking someone in the cabin rather than locking everyone else out. If this is noticed, unlocking the door is trivial; they might not even do it on purpose, simply triggering the mechanism when they go to open the door.

For her part, Miranda tries to be encouraging. "Come in, but be careful!" She calls through her pod's speaker. Her guess is that it's Sekhmet, in which case the warning is redundant, but it never hurts to be a little cautious.

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin
Sekhmet opens the door and walks inside. "Are you okay? Do you, uh, need me to let you out?" she asks. She doesn't know what that involves.

[Ironsmith]

[Aspen Cabin]

"If you don't mind." Miranda replies cordially. "But before you do... Lizzie mentioned something last night about you helping someone named Rose. The way she said it, she implied there was some major truth bomb attached to the name." She crosses her arms over her chest, giving Sekhmet a politely scrutinous look. "Now, you seem like a reasonable person. I'm sure she made it sound worse than it is. But I'd like to know just what she's talking about. Rip that band-aid off before she pulls anything manipulative with it, that kind of thing."

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin
"Huh? Uh..." Sekhmet seems completely surprised. Why would Lizzie want Miranda to know about Rose? "Rose is my, uh, captain of the guard. She was a faerie that, uh, got infected with demonic corruption. I couldn't cure her, so I, uh, with her permission, uh, fused her with the corruption to, uh, turn her into a devil like, uh, myself, but I don't see how that's relevant. It wouldn't work in your situation. It would, uh, effectively kill both of you and make a new succubus that's a combination of, uh, your minds."

[Ironsmith]

[Aspen Cabin]

"Yeah, see, I thought it'd be something hilariously tone-deaf like that." Miranda replies with a little shrug. "She keeps trying to appeal to my vanity or something, and can't seem to grasp that I really don't want to, and I quote, 'look young and sexy forever'. It sounds like she was hoping I would spring for that if I knew it was an option... even though she's in my head and knows I hate the idea. It's kind of sad, actually." She leans against the glass and sighs, a gurgling sound that sends little ripples through the gel. "Like she can't comprehend why anyone would reject that kind of life and keeps up this delusion that, deep down, I'm as shallow and petty as she is. I tell you, if she weren't in my head right now, I'd give that poor lady a hug."

Lizzie might be surprised to learn she means that sincerely. She regards Lizzie as a menace, someone who has to be contained and possibly eliminated for the good of everyone else... but she also sees that as a tragedy, and probably won't exactly feel good about it if she manages to lock Lizzie away somewhere.

"Right. Sorry. You wanted to open the pod, right?" She points to a dial on the side where she installed the autolock. "You ever use a rotating combination lock before? The code is [the date of her fifteenth birthday]. My quinceanera."

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin
"It, uh, still doesn't make sense. She likes being alive, enough that she sacrificed dozens of people just to catch my mother's attention. But if I were to do that, she would effectively die, and, uh, I'm sure she knows it." Sekhmet ponders. Then she stares at the lock. "Uh, I have no idea how this, uh, works." she drums her claws nervously on the side of the pod while she looks at the mechanism.

[Ironsmith]

[Aspen Cabin]

"Maybe she just doesn't see it that way? (You rotate it clockwise until the number's under the arrow, then counterclockwise until the second number is under the arrow, and so on.)" Miranda sighs and stares at her reflection annoyedly. "Come on, Lizzie. What's the big idea? What difference was that supposed to make?"

[bc56]

Aspen Cabin
Lizzie remains frustratingly silent on the matter, but Miranda can feel her smirking off in a corner of the mind.
Meanwhile, Sekhmet fumbles with the lock. It takes several tries before she manages to unlock it correctly, open the door, and let Miranda out.