genessia | The Waifu paradox [Action] [Backdated 4/22]

Entry tags:

The Waifu paradox [Action] [Backdated 4/22]

Who: Konoka, Ted, Pidonus (maybe), Levy and/or Maria
When: Closing time at the Mahora Omyoudo
Where: The shop first, then wherever the mages can best operate
What: The capture and subsequent disenchantment of a damsel in distress

Ted's love/hate relationship with Everglade grew more solid with each passing incident. The latest was sparked by the pseudo-confession of one Konoka, who had given Ted the idea that she was under a grievous enchantment, held against her will by dark forces. This would not stand! He made plans the following day to extricate her from her predicament, ringing up his two personal Morgan Le Fay's to heed the call.

"Hello Levy, Maria. I've need of your talents. Are either of you experienced in the removal of curses? There's almost certainly one in effect as we speak, holding a young woman in thrall to a malevolent mistress. If you've the means to break her chains, please give me the nearest time and location convenient to you, and I'll make haste with the distressed damsel in question." [OOC: Will work out details under VOICE post below.]

Once the preparations were made, it was time to abscond with the lady in tow. Ted donned his Nundu cloak, making him invisible, then waited outside Konoka's shop. He'd slip in past the last customer, so that none would suspect Konoka's disappearance as the shop was shut up. She appeared powerless to alter her own fate; thus leaving it to daring heroes like Ted (if he does say so himself) to lend a hand.

Ted had a Vileplume; the flower representative of his pokemon menagerie. Through trial and error, he had learned to harness its natural, spore-based weapons to incapacitate. Ideally, Konoka would wind down with a beverage, which Ted could lace with sleeping powder when she wasn't looking. But if the circumstances weren't congenial, Ted had more forceful methods. Two can play at compulsion.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Konoka shook off the cobwebs in her mind. She remembered locking up for the night, finding out her water was drugged and then--

Her eyes shot open in a panic, now realizing that she was waking up somewhere else. Fortunately, Levy had been right there, and explained her appearance right away. "Oh! Umm... Ted? Who's..." That also took a moment, but that clicked too. "Oh, that man who thought I was a villain! He dragged me here?" Konoka shook her head. "That seems a little extreme..."

Konoka attempted to stand, and succeeded... albeit on slightly shaky legs. It took her a moment to orient herself.

"A bit sounds like an understatement to me," came a voice from a corner of the room, that most certainly hadn't been there before. As if Pidonus had stepped into the room by literally going through the wall (which wasn't entirely wrong, thanks to a liberal use of ethereal shifting). It seemed she'd had a way to keep track of Konoka somehow, and had followed her, stopping when she recognized the bookstore and avoiding the typical entrance.

The Succubus was glaring at Levy intently, but didn't say anything more yet, preferring to let the mage explain things first. She wasn't armed, nor did she look ready to immediately cast anything.

Levy jumped when she saw someone else standing in her shop. That was certainly new development and where was Ted? What has seen been dragged into. She pulled her attention back to Knonka making sure the the girl was okay.

"Let me help you." She stepped next to the girl and offered a hand to help her stand. She then looked back to Pidonus. "Sorry but I don't know all the details. Konoka was brought here but I don't know how."

She had her guesses now.

She had hardly been lucid for a few moments before Pidonus showed up. "P-Pidonus-han?!" Konoka's eyes were wide. "How'd you even find me, or know what happened?"

She was on edge... for multiple reasons. She didn't feel anything in the back of her mind, mentioning her anymore, but she couldn't shake the feeling that the situation could deteriorate very quickly.

"Gave you a magic item earlier. When you didn't get back, I just tracked the aura to here. Where, obviously, you were busy recovering from, apparently, getting drugged and kidnapped."

Pidonus glared directly at the bag of spores Ted had left - not that she knew it was Ted who was responsible for leaving those yet. "Suffice it to say, I'm very suspicious of your motives in all this, for obvious reasons. However, I'll give you fair chance to explain yourself. Just, don't try to lie, okay?"

"But I didn't do anything!" Konoka protested. "I was closing up shop and wound up passing out due to some drug that was slipped into my water!"

But that sounded too sharp, and Konoka paused from her delivery. She took a moment to calm herself. "Levy-han said someone named Ted was responsible. I don't really know what's going on."

Levy was now realizing that mentioning Ted's name was a bad thing. She cringed before speaking again. "I know about as much as Konoka. I'm just here to help. I was told that she was put under a spell and needed help."

All of which was true.

Pidonus first glanced towards Konoka; obviously, she wasn't blaming her for any of this.

Then, she looked towards Levy. "The crazy ex-Guardian, I presume, is who she's speaking of? And I'm guessing you're trying to have... Oh, what was the phrase in Nova... Plausible deniability towards his behavior in this?"

Perhaps she wasn't... but as far as she knew Levy really wasn't to blame either. The glance was just reassuring enough that the brunette didn't clam up, so she leapt to Levy's defense.

"But she does! She was just as surprised as I was when I showed up!" Konoka pressed. "I don't think she has anything to do with Ted," she turned to Levy. "Right?"

Levy blinked, feeling VERY nervous under those stares.

"I'm not 100% sure what's going on but I know Ted's intentions are good. He just goes about things in an odd way." She wished he was here right now.

"... Intentions are not worth much, I find. Especially if they inspire drugging and kidnapping people. He's stepped onto a rather insane slippery slope, to be frank. One that he should be discouraged from, before he pisses off Dracula or someone less... Morally conflicted than me."

Oddly, Pidonus didn't seem nearly as concerned about Levy breaking the spell on Konoka. Like that just didn't matter to her as much.

"Ummm?" Some words caught Konoka's ear. Namely, 'morally conflicted'.

So had she been thinking about what Konoka said, or had she been too dedicated to care? But either way, Ted was a problem, and he had dumped it on all three of them. "But what's going on with him?"

It also seemed that Pidonus didn't care about the spell. There was really nothing stopping Konoka from telling someone that Pidonus charmed her, other than timing.

Edited 2016-06-20 13:54 (UTC)

"I don't know. I'm sorry."

Levy was about 95% sure she understood what was going on and she was now wishing that Ted had thought this through better. Her shops had wards but she really didn't know Pidonus and she commonly underestimated herself.

"You shouldn't kidnap people but you shouldn't control them either. That really isn't friendship."

Pidonus just shook her head. "If only it were that simple for me," she responded to Levy - reminding Konoka of something Pidonus had said about being 'inherently' evil. But she didn't seem particularly willing to go far with it.

"I can only assume Ted's motivation wasn't so much about freeing Konoka, as specifically pissing me and her off. Or he didn't do his research - the kind of spell I used on her isn't exactly hard to dispel with a strong caster and some seconds, even with my inherent power borne of... A lot of crap happening to me."

Pidonus chose not to start on that ramble. "Pretty sure that if I tried to charm either one of you right now, even if I overpowered that barrier of yours, the other would be able to dispel it before I could get it going a second time, just for comprison."

Konoka sighed sadly. The night she had been charmed, Konoka confronted her about it, but it seemed that she couldn't break her fixation on directives. Even now, Konoka wondered if there was something she was still missing that might help her turn those thoughts around.

"Yes... Pidonus charmed me to go join her. I couldn't say anything because I felt admitting so would put her in danger." She looked around for Ted for a moment. "Even more so now that Ted was losing it."

Levy's lips formed a thin line.

"Wait a second." She understood that what Ted did was bad but what Pidonus did wasn't much better. "If you really are friends why would you charm her? I don't know Konoka well but I know she's a good person. She loves helping people and I know as her friend she'd help you with anything you asked. Real friendship doesn't have those sort of things and I bet that Konoka likes you for you. Not some charm."

Levy inhaled after forgetting to breath. "Isn't it better this way? I'm not excusing anyone's behavior but what you did and what Ted did sound the exact same to me. Whatever the intentions are."

"Perhaps you're right. There's one big difference, though. Ted's got righteousness to his name. A belief that he's right that will quickly lead him down a dark path. Me, I'm already not human and I know it. And I'm not afraid to say that's literal. I should be doing more than I am..."

Konoka grit her teeth. This was so frustrating, but she couldn't take it anymore. She shook her head.

"But why aren't you?!" She suddenly shouted. Only realizing what this could do, Konoka wanted to take things back. But it was already out in the open. "I know mental things aren't solved at the drop of the hat, but I can't save you if you don't know what you want! Even side characters can have goals, you know! So how about you find one for yourself!"

Levy almost jumped at Konoka's outburst. Yes, what Ted and Pidonus did was wrong but for two completely different reasons. They weren't really comparable as far as actions, goals and execution went but instead of arguing she let Konoka have the floor.

She's the one who deserved answers.

Pidonus shook a little. "... And if I know, for sure, that I can't bring myself to take what I want?", she responded. "I'm a Succubus. I shouldn't have moral compunctions against stealing and seducing people to live in the lap of luxury until this place sends me home to return to my true purpose. But the idea of returning home terrifies me, and as you've noticed, I couldn't even get myself to use more than a tiny bit of my power on you."

Her knees seemed unsteady at this. "I have a nature, and I can't even follow it."

Wait wait wait wait

Was she getting somewhere? Konoka didn't dare to hope.

Believing that she could help now, Konoka kept up her nigh righteous tirade. "If you don't know how to use your powers in a way you'd like, then figure it out! You have that power, and you alone! Who cares if you're not like all the other succubi?! I believe in you!"

"That's the thing. I want to be that. Maybe not as far as they do, but to literally chicken out after I placed the charm spell on you? I have the power to do what I want, the desire to do it... But I just can't."

"Have you thought about why you can't?" Konoka pressed. To be honest, this kinda hurt, especially since it could push Pidonus back into the depths of evil if she did things wrong.

But Konoka couldn't bring herself to care too much. The indecisiveness and its toll on Pidonus was too much to bear. If finding the answer made her evil again, she'd still take that over what she was now. Still, she'd try to make her good.

"Is it that you don't feel good about using the power, or what it results in? Have you thought about trying the power in some other way?"

Pidonus blinked. "It's... I really don't know. Having the power's great. The rush when I kiss someone who is under my sway... I'd love to feel it again. But at the same time... The pain I saw inflicted on others. I don't want to be that."

The heat from Konoka's voice died down. Now with her mind working, she could try and put the pieces together. Pidonus liked using her power, and couldn't imagine not using it. But she didn't like the sensation of pain on it. But the more she thought about it, the more her options looked... perverted.

But she'd try anyway. "You know, I don't have to put so much thought into things when I'm charmed. Could you offer someone to fall under your power to relax? Draw out some desire to kick back and enjoy?"

The Waifu paradox [Action] [Backdated 4/22]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

[Action]

[Action]

Re: [Action]

[Action]

[Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

[Action]

Re: [Action]

[Action]

[Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

[Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

[Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

[Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

Re: [Action]

[Action]