| Logs |
2006-03-30
| Dreams |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
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Waking Dreams
Jason goes home to sleep after the diner... and then wakes up and goes about his day like normal, pondering the events of the previous night. He would have taken note of where the place was before leaving the night before, and he'd likely head down there early evening. Dressed nicer than before: he didn't have any reason to care especially about what he looked like then. A print shirt. Nice slacks and shoes. Maybe aftershave. He'd also more or less be telling himself to remember that he needs to question her. It'd be too easy to get swept away in her allure. There's things he needs to know about this... other world he's stumbled over. He also makes sure to carry some other things in his coat (his nice leather one): the crucifix, his old Boy Scout knife, and a small bag of salt. He's not sure whether crosses or salt actually work, but it's a place to start. Now that the experience of Diana has faded a little, he starts to worry about being unprotected both because of her, and from her -- being around her might attract other creepy crawlies.
The club, Dante's, has a huge and glaring 'moving' neon sign of a girl in a martini glass, who cheerily waves one leg at the viewer. She's outlined in red, with golden lips... the bouncer at the door is a very large, almost immobile seeming man, and yet he nods to you when he lets you in. The place is still loud and dim, with the DJ's artificially excited voice almost painful in between the bouncy dancing music. You don't see Diana immediately -- just other, 'regular' girls dancing and stripping and serving drinks.
A hand falls on your shoulder, and a familiar throaty voice murmurs, "Well, hello there, baby. Let me buy you a drink, mm?" She slides around into your view, smiling through perfect scarlet lips with the white tips of fangs just barely showing, and sets down a drink in front of you. She's wearing what looks like black spiderwebs scattered across her body -- it suits her -- and it takes a second for your brain to realize it's a lace teddy in a spiderweb pattern.
Jason feels a little exposed and vulnerable... he came here last time only on insistence by his friends. A strip club isn't normally his thing, and he doesn't have the cover of other people now. He was hesitating about where to sit when Diana appeared, her touch almost electric for how he feels when she lays her hand on him. "Diana," he smiles nervously. "More and more, it seems the name suits you... sneaking up on a guy like a predator," he adds, trying to sound nonchalant. He takes the drink readily, feeling the need for some liquid courage.
Her eyes are narrow reddish gleams of amusement as she settles into the chair next to you, watching you drink with curious intensity. Jason is sipping at this drink when he notes what she wears, and his eyes widen. He finds the need to sit. "Good night?"
Diana leans back in a long stretch, clasping her hands behind her head and obviously showing off. She grins, purring softly, "Always. Like what you see, baby?"
Jason was reacting on instinct, and looking away after the initial glance. But at her query, he blushes and looks again at the body clad in that diaphanous cloth. "Seems to me you should know that without my saying a thing, no?" he queries, feeling himself warming up, taking another sip of his drink.
Diana chuckles softly, "Oh, yes... but the more you like, the better you taste and feel."
A large, somewhat drunken man blunders against your table, accidentally shoving you as he stares belligerently at Diana. His voice is a bit slurred, "Why you bein' nice to that li'l squirt?! Don'tcha wanna real man? I'ma one tha's payin'!"
Diana looks up languidly in mild interest, then smiles and holds up a hand as the bouncer materializes behind the drunk. It's a curiously unpleasant smile, and it takes you a moment to realize -- her lips are curved, but the emotion has clearly not reached her eyes. It's a creepily predatory smile, in fact... would spiders look like this if they had lips?
She purrs, "Honey, if you're that keen to donate, who'm I to stop you?" She reaches down and brings a purse to her lap, searching through it, "Let's see, what do we have left... ah!" She straightens up with a tangled handful of... tiny chains?
Jason blinks at the intruder, nose wrinkling at the clear smell of booze coming from him. He was about to respond to the man, feeling he should at least distract him while the bouncer arrives, but Diana reacts quicker than he can think. And the way she reacts, smile and all, gives him pause... hairs rising on the back of his neck. Suddenly, his comfortably lustful attraction of her fades, as he's reminded she's not human... but rather, something deadlier and unworldly. But he stays in his chair, transfixed by what is going on...
They sort out into what looks like one or two charm bracelets, although there's only one identical charm on each one. Well, actually not quite all identical. They're small, round, flat discs of metal hanging at the join of the silvery chain, no more than 2" in diameter. One of the discs on the bracelets is black on both sides, and the other has a... is that a three quarter moon etched on the disc? Diana picks up the 3/4 looking one and says, "Tired old moon, that suits you. Here."
The large drunk looks a bit confused as Diana rises and with deceptively smooth swiftness snaps the chain closed around his left wrist, then steps back. He raises his wrist, looking at the little charm, as Diana says clearly, "When the moon in the sky looks like the charm, you can come visit for free. Show your charm to the bouncer here, and he'll escort you upstairs." She nods to the bouncer, who takes the guy's arm and smoothly, almost effortlessly, directs him towards the back stairs. Diana settles with boneless grace back into her chair, tossing back her heavy mane of thick black hair and smiling at you again. "So... where were we, mmm?"
Jason looks apprehensively at her. "Do I want to know what that was all about?" he queries in a subdued tone.
Diana grins lazily, her tongue running lightly along her lips as she eyes you, "I don't know... do you? It's good to know what you want." She leans her chin on one small hand, and the slender finger of the other hand reaches out towards your face.
Jason doesn't pull away, but his expression doesn't soften either. The mood, for the moment, has been lost, and his goals in coming here reaffirmed. "I do know what I want, Diana... and what I want to know is what you're about. For one thing... how can you not know what you are?" he quietly asks her, his drink remaining on the table.
Her fingernail trails lightly down your cheek, although the amusement fades from her eyes as she considers your question. Quietly she says, "I... was born on this world, but... I don't look like anyone else. Nor does Mother." She continues to lightly, slowly trail her fingers along your cheek, your ear, your throat as she speaks -- it's a pleasant, tingly, reassuring feeling, almost like touch is part of how she communicates. She sighs softly, then adds, "I can tell you can See. You're only the third person I know who can, in all the years of my life."
Jason tries to resist at first, but quickly decides antagonism is not the best procedure. So he lets himself feel what you have to offer, and relaxes an iota. "And your mother, I take it, could also provide no insight into your nature," he replies slowly, as he watches your fingers caress his face.
Diana chuckles softly, her gaze turning to the stage and her fingers gently turning your face that way also. "Look."
There are moments of extreme shock where one's focus narrows down to a thin, laser-like gaze -- nothing else is important or even noticed. This is one of those moments. The raucously cheering crowd, the garish flaring lighting, the sudden almost visceral arousal of everyone around you -- even the thundering music fades into insignificance as you look at the stage and see... Her.
Flaring bat wings, floating fiery hair, head tossed back in laughter... clawed hands, a swirling tail with a forked end... her fanged grin to the crowd as she sways and beckons, and you can feel the tug of lust -- how could they not SEE her?! Jason doesn't faint, this time. But he does pull back with a hiss, this apparition far scarier than anything that Diana has shown him thus far, in spite of the demon's allure.
He doesn't fall backwards out of his chair, instead smacking into something solid which catches him. A dry voice next to his ear murmurs, "Mother's feeling good tonight," and he realizes he didn't fall because Diana's got her arms around him. She rests her chin on his shoulder -- he can see the gleam of eyes or teeth out of the corner of his eye.
Jason's trepidation is not improved by Diana's apparent ability to move quicker than the eye can track. "I'm... going to guess, perhaps, that you're some kind of... mortal hybrid, then?" he finally manages. "I mean... you look more human than her."
As he watches, little details start emerging. The slightly built woman on the stage is like fire, light footed and bounding with the music, her wings cupped to help her make impossibly graceful moves. Her tail curls and snaps with a life of its own, and her hair... is it actually fire? It lifts and floats around her like flames... she seems almost intoxicated with the emotional aura of the crowd, her glowing eyes dreamily half closed, and a forked tongue lightly licking her lips. The crowd is going wild with excitement, clapping and stamping and cheering with the music.
Diana sighs softly, her breath warm and sweet against your cheek, "Yes. Could you stop fearing quite so much, please? It's... unpleasant." She nuzzles against your cheek, then slowly trails her tongue along your ear... causing little fireworks to go off in places you didn't even know were connected!
Jason 'oh's, his eyes suddenly fluttering closed as he shivers... that gets his attention, worming past his growing trepidation. "I'm sorry, it's just..." he murmurs breathily. He searches for words. "She is beautiful... but she also seems very..." He censors the word 'evil' before it could leave his lips, "...dangerous." He squirms in his seat again, but not because of nervousness. He does, however, note her comment about disliking fear to be of interest. After all, she has no reason to lie about it...
Diana takes her time, slowly and languidly teasing you with her tongue until you're starting to feel more uncomfortable in your clothing, than just aroused... just about when the song ends. She sighs and straightens then, one hand lightly caressing your hair and sliding down your throat, "She is, unfortunately. Wait here, please... I'll be back after I've helped her." She steps past you, the ends of her hair brushing along your cheek and neck like another caress... then pauses to turn and glance down at you, "Oh. I've told Joe to bring Mike over to your table if he arrives. I think you'll like him." She smiles, blowing you a kiss which seems to require slowly licking her lips at you as well, then turns and moves quickly towards the stage.
Diana helps the smaller, almost dainty seeming winged woman off the stage, putting an arm around her shoulders and guiding her towards the stairs. The other woman seems intoxicated, almost floating along with her companion, her rippling laughter like velvet against the skin. They disappear up the stairs together, the bouncer making sure no one follows.
Jason takes several seconds to recover, looking after Diana as she leaves. His fingers unclench from the table, and a hand reaches for his drink... the other hand surreptitiously adjusting certain uncomfortable body parts. His face is still flaming in response to Diana's tantalizing oral caress. Not for the first time, he wonders what he's gotten into.
Two men appear next to your table, studying you thoughtfully. You recognize one as the bartender -- and you notice a small charm bracelet around his left wrist. Curiously, he has the calmest, oldest eyes you've seen in such a young face. The other man tilts his head as he regards you, then nods to the bartender, "Thanks, Joe." Joe departs, and the older man holds out his hand, "Mike. Pleasure to meet you. Jason, right?" His face is tickling at your memory...
The charm bracelet is oddly reassuring... after all, if the charm were tantamount to a death sentence, then it's unlikely the bartender would be wearing one -- which only leads him to wonder what it symbolizes. As the other man addresses him, he gives his attention to him instead, and takes the hand warmly. "So my mother tells me," he quips, tilting his head as he studies the man's face curiously...
It hits you suddenly -- you saw an interview with this man on TV! He's an author, and he writes... horror stories about supernatural creatures no one else can see. Mike settles at your table and smiles at you, "If you're anything like me, you're full of questions, right?" His face is weather-beaten, friendly, and open, and he politely thanks and tips the girl who settles a drink in front of him with a smile. Interestingly, he's not watching the current dancer. He looks around with a faintly inquiring look, sniffing a bit, then grins ruefully, "Let me guess... Beatrice just danced, right?"
Jason absently wonders how many more shocks he can take tonight. At least this time, he's able to keep his reaction internal. "Beatrice... now there's an incongruous name if ever there was one," he muses. "But if you're referring to the woman that would seem to belong on a metal album cover, then yes."
Mike laughs, then grins at you, "That's her. She took the stage name Beatrice because the place is named Dante's after Joe there, at the bar."
Jason's brow knits. "Not getting the connection. Would it be in one of your novels?" he quips, obliquely letting the man know he's recognized him.
Mike smiles ruefully, "No, I've never written anything that beautiful, I'm afraid. Dante Allegheri wrote his 'Divine Comedy,' where Beatrice was his lovely guide through Purgatorio and Paradiso." He takes a sip of his drink, then shakes his head once as he studies the glass, "She's beautiful beyond... beyond sanity, I think. It's... scary." He looks at you levelly, not a hint of humor on his face, "Never move quickly around her. Never try to run. It... only attracts her attention." He turns to watch the current dancer, taking a moment to let the emotion fade from his face.
Jason finds it wryly amusing that Mike's words have the ring of truth because he's heard something from a movie he saw as a kid... an animated version of a book called 'The Last Unicorn.' "Speaking from personal experience?" he asks bluntly, wondering if this person will give him the unvarnished truth.
Mike looks back at him, his face closed against unpleasant memory, "Personal only in that I saw something I wish I hadn't." He sighs, having another sip of his drink, then smiles quietly at you again, "So. She says you call her Diana, and she'd like me to answer any questions you may have."
Jason folds his hands together on the table. "Sure, we can do that. Okay, pretty much my first question is this: am I being unbelievably stupid in having come back here?" he queries blandly.
Mike laughs easily, then grins at his glass, idly trailing one finger around the rim, "That... I don't know. If it is stupid," he looks up at you again, his tone rueful, "then I'm sharing in that stupidity. But... I don't think they mean us harm. Um. Intentional harm."
Jason inclines his head in mild agreement. "Diana could have easily had me at the end of our first encounter. But she left it up to me, at the end, to go and never come back," he replies. "But that could merely be the novelty of having found someone else who sees what she truly is. Putting that aside, for the moment... say more about this 'unintentional harm'."
Mike sighs softly, considering for a moment, then starts speaking slowly, "As far as I understand it, they don't eat like we do. They consume... something... emotion, maybe? And one of the easiest to create is lust, so that's what they've done -- created a place where it's acceptable for large numbers of men to gather and, in effect, feed them... and no one gets hurt."
"That would seem to dovetail with observable phenomena, yes." Jason replies, and then looks sheepish. "God, I sound like a dork..."
Mike grins at you, "Don't worry, it's... rather unnerving when you think about it too much. So anyway. I think they're quite capable of, um... easily overcoming a single man and chewing up all his emotions... but I get the impression normal humans like you and I can only take so much of that, and then... something bad happens. I think. They won't talk about it."
Jason finds himself nodding. "Like a vampire draining so much blood a person dies."
"Yes, exactly. For, um... inhuman creatures -- or partially human creatures -- they seem to try to be relatively, ah... careful with humans, you know? Admittedly, from what I can tell Beatrice consumes more than she needs so she can feed Diana as well. I get the impression Diana's not quite yet adult... or maybe is on the cusp of being an adult, if that makes sense?"
"She seems adult enough to me," Jason retorts, and then realizes how that sounds. Blushing, he quickly adds, "Well, er... why can't she feed herself? She certainly seems capable of it..."
Mike grins at you with the expression of someone who knows precisely what you're feeling. "Yeah, she seems quite adult, but I don't get the impression she ages like a normal human. As far as feeding herself... ummm..." His voice trails off and he studies you for a moment, then says carefully, "The reason I think she's close to being able to do so is her willingness to spend time with me... and now you as well. Ah..." he glances around, seeing Joe the bartender, then turns back to you and nods, "Have you noticed the little bracelets with the moon symbols on them?"
Jason leans forward, interest unfeigned. "Yes, what is that all about?"
"As I understand it, they're Beatrice's special, er... pets, or flock? There are 5 of them, for the phases of the moon, to make it easy for them to tell when they can come here and... spend time with Beatrice. They feed her, and she... does something that makes them... incandescently happy." He takes a sip of his drink -- then freezes, glass still in midair, staring at something over your shoulder.
Jason's brow knits. "I see. Does it really matter..." he pauses then as he sees Jason's expression.
A voice like clear flutes played by the wind speaks behind you -- a light, pure, sweet soprano that somehow still makes the hair on the back of your neck rise, "Hello, children. How nice to have a moment with you to myself." There's a hand on your shoulder again, but this one feels both smaller... and somehow heavier.
A hand absently goes to the right pocket of his jacket in reflexive response, though Jason does not reach in just yet. "Friend of yours?" he queries of Mike, without looking at the owner of the hand, trying to keep his voice steady.
Mike puts his glass down slowly and says evenly, "Beatrice. May I introduce you to Jason?" Her laughter is musical and rippling like water, one warm finger trailing tinglingly down the back of your neck, "How sweet!" Out of the corner of your eye you can see the shiver of movement from one wing, the skin almost translucent where there's light behind it. The scent of both smoke and recent sex is a bit stomach-churningly close. She reaches past you and flips a chair around, sitting on it with her arms resting on the back and her wings flaring out behind her. Something coils slowly around your ankle, and she smiles at you. Her face is creepy, and yet... also compellingly beautiful.
Jason's hand leaves his pocket, though his tension lessens only slightly. He finds himself resisting the impulse to look at her, though that becomes moot when she moves from behind him to sit with them. He tries to quash the fear, a thought fleeting through his head that it might somehow offend her... to say that he gives in completely to lustful attraction, however, wouldn't be entirely accurate either. She is striking, and sexy... but also very alien. "Forgive me, Beatrice... I didn't expect you'd be joining us. You seemed..." His mind races from the word as his eyes lock on her face, "... stuffed." His eyes close as he grimaces. Not the best word he could have chosen.
She laughs again, and it is indeed alien -- a ripplingly perfect waterfall of notes. Mike hasn't moved from his careful position. She tilts her head and smiles, regarding you through eyes with pupils like the blood-red harvest moon, and you notice the curved claws instead of ordinary fingernails. "You seem quite well-meaning, dear child, so I will simply tell you what I told dear Michael a few weeks ago, during his last visit." Her face doesn't change expression, but her voice is suddenly as cold and edged as steel, "My daughter means everything to me. If you ever hurt her... well, it would be a grievous and possibly conclusive error."
Jason's eyes widen. "Me? Hurt her?" he blurts in some astonishment. His response is not out of shock that she would consider him willing to do such a thing... but rather the instinctive impression that it's very unlikely he could pose any kind of threat to her at all.
There's a sharp, "Mother!" from behind you, and Beatrice looks up, her expression still blandly smiling, "Hello, darling. You have lovely pets, I must say." Diana appears next to you -- don't these women ever approach from the front?! -and puts a hand on your shoulder. She's frowning worriedly at the smaller (and yet somehow much more alarming) woman as she says firmly, "These are mine, Mother. You have your own!"
As you sit there, the something coiling around your ankle slowly departs. Jason gives this wild-eyed look to Mike. He can almost hear Sean Connery's voice in his head, speaking his thought: 'our situation has not improved.' Mike gives you a small, rueful grin, then looks up at Diana, whose fingers have tightened slightly on your shoulder. You get the oddest feeling Diana's actually not sure what she's said is true... and it's undermining her confidence in front of her mother.
Jason isn't quite sure why he does what he does next. Maybe it's to calm Diana, or comfort her. Maybe it's a supplication for protection, or taking sides. Maybe it's that he realizes she has, in fact, ensnared him. Or maybe it's because those claws are digging in. But his response is to slowly reach up and put his hand over hers as he looks at Beatrice. Diana glances down at you in startlement... then smiles warmly at you, her cat-pupiled eyes lighting up. It's like making an electrical connection through you -- you can feel heat sizzle deliciously down your senses and radiate out from her hand, almost dizzyingly...
When your head clears, she's straightened and is regarding her mother firmly. Beatrice glances at you and Mike, a lazy smile on her lips... then rises and steps over to her taller daughter, "Of course they are, darling." She puts her hands on her daughter's shoulders, then rises on tiptoe to press her lips to Diana's in a slow, increasingly passionate kiss that lasts for several seconds. You can feel it again, you think -- that sizzle of heat, as if you're too close to something dangerously, electrically powerful... and then Beatrice steps away. She winks at you, then blows a kiss to Mike, and paces away with a walk that could melt icebergs.
Mike lets his breath out in a slow, heartfelt sigh. Diana watches her mother leave... then pulls up the chair her mother had been using, settling a little unsteadily into it as she mutters, "Whuh... that was... intense..." Jason blinks, feeling embarrassed, aroused, woozy... he finds the need to sit, then realizes he already is, which only adds to his befuddlement. "Well," he whispers, looking at his impromptu companions. Mike grins at you with some sympathy, "Just hold still for a bit and let it settle." He waves a girl over and you soon all have a large glass of iced water in front of you. Jason drinks deep, suddenly incredibly thirsty. He glances at Diana then, looking to gauge her ongoing response, post confrontation.
Mike also drinks quite a bit. Diana still has a slightly dazed look as she swallows slowly... then dips her fingers in the water and unselfconsciously wipes her face down, and then the tops of her breasts. Her reddish skin seems to have more sheen than usual, and she's giving off a lot of heat... there's a very strong compulsion to help her wet herself down, in fact. Your fingers would leave little streaming trails of water along her skin...
Jason is bemused by this impulse, already flustered watching Diana respond in a way he's only seen in soft-core porn. He hesitates, as in spite of everything he's not the sort to go touching women without invitation... but he finds himself convincing himself that it wouldn't be so bad if he didn't touch anywhere inappropriate. It's with this thought in mind that his moist fingers find where neck and shoulder meet, and wander upwards from there... his touch more curious than sensual, but with an overtone of affection. Diana sighs softly, her eyes half closing in pleasure and her head tilting back in an invitingly sensuous movement.
Mike's soft voice is easy to disregard, "Jason, be careful... she's not completely herself just now..." Her skin is smooth and warm and shining from the cool water, and her cropped t-shirt is starting to cling to her damp breasts and there's a growing moan of sensation in your head -- or is it her? -as your fingertips tingle... and she leans towards you, eyes alight with fire and desire, lips parted and reaching for you...
Yes. Yes. Yes. Jason seems focused on that building heat, in her skin, in her eyes, in her lips. He wants to feel what he felt in that glorious moment before she left him in the diner. But something in him resists, perhaps some warning tingle borne from his conversation with Mike, or perhaps because of where they are. His hand finds her face, though, and halts her advance gently, never mind he was leaning back towards her at first. "Diana, we're not... alone," he rumbles, the fog in his brain cleared slightly as his words interrupt the moment. There's a note of relief in Mike's voice as he mutters to you, "Yes! Keep her back for a bit." More sharply he says, "Diana -- wake up!"
For a moment anger flickers like flame over Diana's face, one clawed hand coming up to curl around one of your wrists -- and then she blinks at Mike's sharp voice, shaking her head like she's waking up. She rubs her face, then says a little huskily, "Guh, thank you, Mike -- I'm sorry, Jason." She splashes her face with more cold water, then looks up at you both, "Mother gave me a little much. Let's... let's go dancing, guys. I need to work this off before I try to do something else stupid." Mike rises with alacrity, "Excellent idea! My car's outside."
Jason doesn't ask... now's clearly not the time. But something in his mind lets out a muttered protest at being denied. Something in a place lower down, too. "I'd better warn... I'm a lousy dancer," he replies wryly, rising a little slower than the other two. Mike gives you a quick grin, and you can see the tension easing on his face, "That's not a worry. It's not us she'll be mostly dancing with, fortunately." Diana's already heading for the door, and for a moment you see the same smoldering tension in the swirl of her hair and the sway of her hips as you saw in her mother. Mike carefully leaves a nice tip, then follows you out.
Mike leads you both to his small rental, cheerfully adding, "Drink lots of orange juice if you get the chance, Jason -- it's going to be a long, if pleasant, night!" Jason just nods in response, lost in thought.