Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Death blow pain wasn't turned on! Many of you came out looking surprised you had died and no one even groaned from it," said Zac.

"My death was slowest and I feel nothing. She panic throughout game. One's mind can create pain, it may be all in her head," said Ma Jianshen who didn't move because his body was tempted to help her with that pain fixation and keep it going. He kept his eyes on the game and watched the final explosion happen.

Veni managed to distance himself considerably from the explosion. He actually had ran back to about the rocky cliff area they had started off in and hid when he heard a screeching noise. He didn't dare move from his cover.

Rosemary on the other hand wasn't as lucky. Jacob did shield her more key areas with his body, but the rest of her, especially the legs, got pelted with shrapnel. And really... his effort would have been wasted without the suit. Many of the pieces didn't penetrate it enough and those that did, the suit worked quickly to put out the fire. Otherwise she would have burned to death. However despite the suits efforts she did get a brief moment of feeling what it was like to be slightly burned with hellfire and it was less pleasant than being burned by regular fire.

Once Dieamos was released for exit those who survived the few seconds after his death would be a winner even if they would have died soon, since all of one team had been defeated.

(Note: I am not posting the exiting or reactions of my last two characters to Adira's condition because I don't know if it is solved or not by the time they would have exited as it is several minutes after her.)

Dieamos stumbled out of the machine moments later, seeming to be slightly dazed, holding a hand to his face. He'd been mostly aware of what happened, and somewhat regretted that his more demonic nature and instincts to crush completely overrode everything towards the end. He had some difficulty controlling things for a while there. The demonic nature was a temptation to him, that much he knew, one that he needed to temper, that in a way, all demons had to temper once they had converted.

Galantros sensing only a hint of what Adira was feeling, and getting the instinct that he couldn't do anymore, blushed slightly and walked away to help Banquo instead, letting Eztli and the others assist her. He transferred some of his energy into a healing form into Banquo, giving him just a slight revitalizing boost.

”Adira got a bit freaked out I think... Can't say I'd blame her.”

Eztli meanwhile could sense that Adira was trying to incite something in him, and he gave a shaky, quiet breath. Lust. He hadn't really been around many incubus or succubi, Galantros being one of the only ones... So he hadn't really been prepared for how strong the pull would have been on him. Had he teeth, he would've bit down on his lip to keep focus, to try to keep his thoughts from going astray. He didn't want to give into that emotion, all things considered, especially now. He felt they would need to have some sort of talk later perhaps. For now, he focused on those calming thoughts, allowing them to flow.

Dieamos observed the scene, and frowned. He noted Daphne going to Cian for support as well. Something in him had somewhat snapped when he had experienced that pain sensation and went into an overload with his spell.

”Words are.. inadequate, to express my regret and sorrow for my loss of mind and clarity... I was myself, and yet I wasn't at the same time. It is difficult for this old demon to explain... The old evil unfortunately seems to still thrive within somewhere deep inside.”

Eztli froze a moment and blinked at what Rosemary declared. His first thought was to be insulted, but then the gears quickly started turning... if she didn't feed her lust on him, it would transfer... He imitated a gulp out of instinct, then moved his focus back to Adira. His mind changed quickly on the situation then, not wishing to become jealous or see her becoming... closer... to anyone else there, and he immediately kissed the succubus. During the kiss, Galantros tendrils subconsciously wavered a bit, feeding off some ambient drain off excess the two were beginning to let off in terms of lust energy. The reaper-demon didn't seem to notice however.

While probably a wise decision for Ma to do what he was doing, considering Dieamos was technically a demon powerful enough to smear the vampire on the pavement with a quick press of the thumb if he so desired.... It was probably a good thing that the abomination class demon held no lofty ideas of himself, or was egocentric. However, he was not as familiar with certain earth customs and cultures, as he blinked his empty sockets at what Ma was doing before him.

”...You're already forgiven, you couldn't have known it would have had such an effect on my person. However, please do stand, Ma. I'd rather not be bowed to in such a manner, for I am still a demonic and not quite of a heavenly nature.”

His attention then went towards Veni's question.

”I believe what happened was that Ma's unique ability mingled with the more naturally magical and demonic essence of myself in a negative way. Seeing as how I'm of a special class of demon, our make up is a bit different then most common or even certain powerful ones. I can only assume what had only mean to cause pain, mixed in such a manner that it could cause actual physical harm to one of my kind... Which I find interesting, now that I'm not under it's effects.”

At first Eztli wasn’t giving in. She felt the resistance. The lust she pushed was there but the resistance…oh so strong. She pushed even more of the lust on him. If it didn’t work on the reaper angel she could always try with someone else. Before she could help herself, her eyes quickly took in the room…So many were in relationships…so many…Could she break them? If she were in her right, all-together mind, Adira would have been shocked and horrified by this line of thought. However, the instinctual half-succubus was different. She was hungry. Male…female….Male would mean sex. The fastest way to heal. Female…there would be no, true sex. Still possible to feed—still enjoyable—but not as quick.

Adira’s eyes focused back on Eztli. Her grip tightened, she pulled him nearer. Give in, little angel…

The alpha female vampire spoke and it broke the fire angel’s resistance. She felt the slight tickle of his jealousy and possessiveness. He didn’t want her to kiss another. Just a kiss? the instinctual succubus thought, Tsk, tsk. We’ll see about that. Eztli kissed her. Adira’s hand released his arm and instead, her arms went around his neck, pulling him in. Finally… Some part of her sighed in contentment.

The hounds of ice and fire looked away from their mistress and Eztli. The lust was rampant in the room, though Galantros was feeding on it.

”Like Rosemary just said,” Ophelia said to Banquo, answering his question ”Adira is hungry.”

Banquo nodded then turned his attention away. He smiled at Galantros, ”Thank you.” He said, with a nod of his head. He was thanking the reaper-incubus for the healing energy. His voice went lower as he glanced at his mistress, ”Should we…stop them before they go too far? Adira is not in her right mind…instincts are clouding judgments and rationale.”

Daphne shuddered against the lasting effects of the game. They didn’t last long before it was gone. She wrapped her arms around Cian comfortably. ”You’re a jerk, you know. For dying like that.” she commented, before pulling away.

Cian heard Dieamos’ statement, then Veni’s agreement and nodded. Of course he knew what that felt like…that demonic bloodlust. It was too easy to give in to sometimes. He was old but it still lurked there. It was easier here where there were few humans to force the craving, the bloodlust but it was still difficult sometimes. Though he lusted after human blood the most, there was still the tantalizing prospect of Reaper or demonic blood. The Greek vampire knew a thing or two about hospitality, however. He would not feed here unless he was given express permission. He knew that neither Veni nor Rosemary would take kindly to Cian attacking anyone.

Daphne also knew of the lust for the instinctual side. She had given into that side at the beginning…when her maker had been nowhere to be found. She had attacked her Irish kinsmen—the man who had tried to burn her on the stake. She had killed that man. Though she was perky for a vampire, she knew of its darker touches to her personality. She knew what that side of her could do. The couple glanced at each other, sharing a knowing look. Yes, they understood Dieamos and Veni well.

When Rosemary came over, and questioned their knowledge of transformation, Daphne felt embarrassed. Though there was no flush on her cheeks, the shame was very present. ”I…have never tried, to be honest. I never learned how.” Her maker, her Cian, had not been there in the beginning to teach her how to use the vampire power she was born with. Some things she learned on her own—how to feed without draining, etc.—but other things were lost. ”I…should like to learn.”

Cian for his part shrugged, ”My maker didn’t see it as a pertinent area of study…Not like she should have. She was more focused on the magical aspects. She had others to train as well so she might have been busy.” It wasn’t often that Cian spoke of his formidable maker. ”I may have done it once or twice in the past but it was never a tactic I was completely comfortable with.”

Rosemary was a little surprised to hear this. She wondered if his maker was a fool or considered herself so powerful in magic that she didn't need to. However the last thing he said... "I didn't figure you to be the type of vampire to try so hard to be human that you'd give up a possibly great survival skill."

She didn't intend that statement to be insulting so it was said with a lack of sarcasm and a level of sincerity. When she turned to Daphne to speak she tried to put on what she thought would be a soft expression instead of her usual stern one to try to ease the girl's embarrassment or discomfort she might have felt. "Few are actually born with the ability to transform immediately or know their familiars. As we age strengths unlock. I think you should learn too because with your healing skills, this will be a good self defense ability. Being able to split myself into many critters has saved my life in a few cases and proved useful for other functions. But learn? I don't know how to teach you other than by having you watch me. I learned from observation and tried because I saw others do it.

"You agree we have instincts and that our bodies can do things without us doing it do you not? If your body can indeed do it all you have to do is think about it and want to do it and it'll do it. There are many vampires out there I think who learned advanced techniques without training. If you think like a human, which is a cute quality of you, and doubt and wonder how can I, then it wont work. Just doing that and it should happen. However you can refine it with practice and that does take more concentration than just willing it to change shape. I'll do a demonstration for you if you want sometime tonight to give you ideas on things you could try as you get better."

"Stop them if she or he tries to pull off any clothes or if it looks like she's going to kiss him to death. This after all isn't an appropriate room for that and it could be considered rape since he didn't agree to more than a kiss while in his right mind," said Veni who looked at Ma and Dieamos before turning his head to say that.

Ma didn't want to be in the atmosphere of that room room anymore. Sure Adira wasn't seeking out others, but he still felt a little suffocated with all the tension. Besides, he couldn't really do anything to help it he assumed. Plus he didn't want to talk about this in front of everyone. Many of which were others to him. He motioned that he wanted the demon he could really easily harm to follow him, but at the same time Ma kept a little distance. Not because he was afraid of Dieamos, but at the moment he was afraid something might go wrong if he even bumped the demon.

Once they were out of that gaming room and almost out of the gaming section, he began to speak, "your humbleness is admirable, but you belittle yourself too much. Why? Because you were born in hell? I am still a demonic and not quite of a heavenly nature. 'Being as demonic as I am still, I do not deserve such.... respect. ' What do you mean by that? You deserve no apologies because you're born demonic and not heavenly? I have met no heavenly being that deserves my respect except maybe the ones currently here. Some ridiculed Adira, I heard, just because she is a succubus. No…older than me or not, they don’t deserve it if they act like that. In all my existence I didn't believe in this hell or heaven place for even a moment until hell opened up on this world and loosed its demons on it. Even then I refused to believe in that explanation. I don’t mean to explain my life, but where my view point comes from. Demons to me were once defined different until mere years ago. I considered myself a demon and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing to me. I just knew I’d be considered a demon in my time where I was from.

“I thought the demons described to me from some incident in Limbo were from other places and not the one evil people went to when they died. I refused to believe in such a place because I didn’t believe in such an afterlife. I am superstitious maybe, but not religious. I had never believed in a single god ruling in heaven. These ideas didn’t exist in my country until people from the west came and claimed there was some almighty loving god I should be following and that I must be baptized to save my soul to go to heaven instead of hell for I was evil and damned. Also in the time of Ming rule, we were more inward oriented and unreceptive to foreign religious proselytism. Well they failed to prove that their god was what they claimed it to be because my people were looked down upon, some enslaved, and others around the world I later found out were slain in the name of this god. So barbaric these westerners could be. All people who were different than them weren’t treated equally and looked down on. To be fair we looked down on them too because we wanted to maintain a level of sameness in our country and they were strangers in our land and frankly most of us didn’t want them there. They had only recently established a settlement in my province before I was born. To me they were hairy demonic barbarians and they stank and to them I was a godless heathen.

“Culturally I was taught to greatly respect my elders. The eldest men were the ones who made the decisions. When visiting someone you would address the oldest first even if they’re not whom you were there to see. I was to do whatever my father wanted and my younger siblings were to do as I say. It was my responsibility to make sure things were well taken care of once the elders were too old, but I was expected to take care of my parents when they grew too old to do so themselves, to hold them in high regard, and never do anything against their wishes. If struck by an elderly, I was expected to not strike back because I was likely in error. To harm them brought shame to the whole family for many generations sometimes. To be old is good because it meant respect, calling someone elderly young is actually an insult. You consider yourself elderly, do you not? You are old, I am young in comparison. I removed your enjoyment from something, made you angry, and hurt far beyond my intention. Even if it was a game, no one gave me permission to torment like that. It isn't sporty, I guess some would say, to do things like that in a friendly fight. Worst yet I did that to a respectable elder, so I bowed low to show my grief and to be respectful towards you. I don’t understand why being demonic instead of heavenly makes difference. Where you are from doesn't matter to me.”

Adira was unaware that people were talking about her. All she could do was focus on the ever deepening kiss. She pressed herself against Eztli, feeding off his feelings of lust. She could sense his awareness filtering out of him. Just…a…little…more. Just as his awareness was slowly coming out, her own was slowly filtering in. It wasn’t yet enough to override the succubi instincts, however.

Banquo nodded to Veni, but it was Ophelia that responded, ”That we can do…or try to. I’m not exactly sure what happens when you pull a succubi from her…well, prey.”

”Probably the same thing that happens when you try to pull a bone from a pup. He’s feeding her right now. She’s running on the instincts of a succubus. Succubi have done this since their creation. I’m not exactly sure if they would consider it rape and thus I’m not exactly sure if there would be any more questioning.” Ban answered
It was semi awkward for the hounds to watch their mistress make out with the angel of fire.
Cian bristled slightly. ”I had my…magic to refine. It was very time consuming. Very exhausting—even for a vampire. I am not one that tries to play at being human. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…I’m just…too old, sometimes, to blend in as I am sure you can understand. Perhaps at one time it was easier to try to blend in. But now, I cannot.” Her felt a hand in his as Daphne smiled up at him, squeezing his hand.

Rosemary’s soft expression did help. ”I…didn’t know my familiar until they started popping up everywhere I went… I suppose…I could try then. Maybe I could do it.” She just couldn’t imagine it. Perhaps she was thinking like a human. How was she supposed to stop? Did she let the instincts take over? If she did that, what was to stop her from becoming a terror? Then again…humans could regulate themselves with practiced ease.