Breaking the Rules Pt. 05

Sequel to Bending the Rules, although hopefully if you're familiar with RPGs you won't have too much trouble following along without having read that. Not based on any particular gaming franchise or storyline, but there may be guest appearances.

Just recently realized my email on my Lit account was old, and no longer valid. Apologies to anyone who's sent me a message, and never got a reply - I honestly never got it.

*****

"Onyx Township. Let's see," Nuru said, scrolling through his memory.

He knew where it was, but not much about what lay in between, and couldn't go back to the library to look. No two ways about it - he was going to have to go back to Emerald City, with his lyena's help. He made it in time for lunch, then he sent Tusa with a note to leave at Dayo's back door, and waited, practicing his rhythms and syncopation. He thought about getting a room for the night, but decided to see if he could pick up any useful information just listening before turning in. A page came in, and made a beeline for him at the inn. He spoke up to be heard over the babble inside and outside; the streets were very busy.

"Hey. You Nuru?"

"Who wants to know?" Nuru said.

"Friend of yours. Said to tell you, and I quote, 'them and theirs are doing well.' I hope you know what that means, I sure don't. Anyway, stay here, I'll let them know where you are."

Had to be Dayo. He nodded and settled in to wait.

*****

"Hey there!" a hooded figure called out, raising a hand.

Something wasn't right, though Nuru didn't have time to figure out what.

"Do, uh, I know you?" Nuru said, standing up cautiously.

"Of course! I just paged you-"

Foomp.

Nuru sighed, waving the smoke portal away. "Get out."

"Hey- what the- that's not fair!"

"No smoke portals inside, asshole!" the proprietor said.

"Fine, we do this the hard waaaaaAUGH!" the thief said, leaning over as one of his arms was being twisted behind him.

"Is this guy bothering you? I can send him away if you'd like," a woman said, pitching the thief face-first into a table and holding him down.

Nuru let his eyes take her in, the sleeves that were made of criss-crossed leather strips that ended in a loop wrapped around her middle fingers, the studded leather dress that reached up into a tight choker around her neck, with round cut-outs accentuating her tight cleavage and the hard curves of her shoulder blades, the skirt attached garter-style to the knee-high black boots with silver detailing.

"Ahem. If you'll skip ahead a little, you'll find my eyes are up here," she said, tilting her head and peering out under the ridges of her eyebrows at him, ignoring the proprietor who was now yelling about fighting indoors.

"Oh, yes - yes of course they are," Nuru said, letting his eyes snap up to her silver wing-themed circlet with short dark hair slicked back. "In fact, he was rather interrupting my moment of peace, if you care to eject him."

"Very well," she said, turning back as her grip slipped.

The thief stomped down to lift his lower body, and he swung his legs to rotate him around on the table, twisting his arm free and standing up in a single motion, and the momentum propelling him away. He vanished in a puff of smoke, and the woman darted forward just in time to go with him. Wait staff went around, assuring everyone that their drinks were free today, when the two combatants reappeared in the middle of the room in another poof of dust, with the thief scrabbling at her arm around his throat desperately.

"You need to be taught a proper lesson," she said, kneeing him in the back.

He leaped forward again with a grunt of pain, kicking his feet forward and wrangling his head out of her grip by rotating his chin out from under her elbow. He turned and landed on his chest, legs following, and arched his back so that the weight of his feet coming down lifted his head, and once again gave him a little bit of inertia towards the door, although he was turned around. She dove at him, landing on her knees and thrust her hands forward.

"!Fashewar Asiri!" she cast quickly.

The thief flew straight out the door in a flash of light, bounced on his ass, and then rolled to his feet, and was gone. Moments later there was a loud disturbance outside, and a number of city guards came in with weapons drawn. The waitstaff pointed to the woman and she held her hands up in surrender.

"I'll come more quietly than he did, provided you can keep your hands to yourselves," she said.

"Troublemaker, you'll do well not to besmirch the honor of law enforcement with such insinuations," the guard said. "You should be grateful we let you chaos-lovers in at all."

"That's only a threat if _you're_ threatening *me*," she said, smiling sweetly.

"Jabari, quit overdoing the tough guy act and just take her in," another guard said. "They don't want a show, they want peace and quiet."

"But if she causes a bigger scene-"

"THEN flex on her. Civilians aren't subject to our deference policy. You are, now move."

"Sir!" he snapped a quick salute and led the woman away.

"Aughta be a law against dresses that cause temporary mental disability in men," the other guard grumbled. "Anyway, you, come outside, let's talk."

Nuru followed him out. They had to all but yell to hear each other, but this did afford them a small bit of privacy.

"Alright, quick now, from the top. I've got a patrol to finish. How did this altercation start?"

"The thief just popped in outta nowhere, pretending he knew me, and tried to kidnap me," Nuru said.

"Unrequested portal transport, a serious offense. Any idea why he would be interested in you?"

"Never met the guy before."

"Slept with his girlfriend maybe?"

"Ridiculous if he thinks I did. I'm brand new out of the Level Eleven Gate."

"Right. Faction conflict?"

"That could be it, I suppose, he didn't say anything to give me a clue what he was after." Nuru shrugged. "Never can tell when something's gonna pop off."

"Don't I know it. Alright kid, keep your nose clean, you're free to go. We've got that guy in custody, so you should be safe here now, assuming he's working alone."

Nuru went back inside to wait.

"Bloody necromancers. Always think they own the place," the proprietor said, wringing his hands. "Can I get you something? One drink's on the house."

"Sure, I'll try the house special," Nuru said, distracted by the word "necromancer."

How many factions had those, anyway? Most of the Low Factions, maybe. He scrolled back through his memory of the fight, if you could call it that; actually a minor scuffle, at best. Those little studs on her dress caught the light oddly, now that he thought more closely about it. Tiny little skull shapes, with jewel eyes? Maybe. He started to get a bit paranoid when Dayo didn't show up. He finished a meal, and went outside behide the corner of the building, waiting to see if the woman showed up again, intending to follow her if she did. Several minutes went by, and then she did arrive at a dead run, slowing to a halt and ruffling her hair into position before stepping through the door. She emerged less than a minute later, followed by the proprietor yelling and shaking his fist. A few city guards rounded the corner and dashed over to check on it, and she held up her hands, trying to placate the man, to no avail. She tossed him a bag of coins, and he finally settled down.

"Have you seen him though?" Nuru heard her say.

"No, he's gone, no thanks to you, and I'd be surprised if he ever comes back. Or anyone else does, for that matter. This hardly covers the damage to my reputation," the man said, shaking the sack of money.

"You exaggerate. But my business is concluded. Farewell," she said turning and walking away. "Dammit. Nuru... where are you?"

(Maybe better to do with the guards present, on second thought.)

"I'm here," he said, stepping out into the street.

"Oh! There you are!" she rushed over, reaching out to him.

"Uh..." he said, backing away. "Look, no offense, keep your hands where I can see them."

"Lady, don't you be starting trouble again. I blow this whistle and there's gonna be a dozen men here to peel your carcass off the wall," one of the guards warned, holding his sword and shield at the ready.

"What... Nuru, don't you recognize me?" Dayo said.

"No- wait. Dayo!?"

"It's the dress, isn't it? I told him it was too much."

"Him, who? And yes, it's the dress, and the makeup, and the hair. And it's so loud around here I couldn't recognize your voice, even inside. We're good, sir, you may carry on."

Nuru waved at the guards in what he hoped came across as a friendly manner. Dayo waited until they turned the corner.

"Onyekachi of course, he's even more obsessed with you than before. If I didn't know your opinion on the matter, I'd be afraid for my position in the faction. I've been told to drop absolutely everything to recruit you. He cancelled all my quests, gave me an up-front advance on the referral reward, even had some armor scraps remade into this ridiculous outfit, insisted you'd fall to my feet and beg to join us. I told him you're not allowed back past the Level Eleven Gate, on pain of instant death, but he just swore up and down he'd take care of that, if only I did my part. What do you think, do I look like a battle hooker or what?"

"It's too loud out here, and I'm getting paranoid to be seen in public. Let's walk."

They went to the library where, fortunately, it was much quieter, although they now had to take care to keep their voices down.

"OK. Onyx Township, you say?" Dayo said.

"Right," Nuru said.

They looked up the common Random Encounters for the zone, and took notes.

"Can you handle that with me in tow?" Nuru said.

"As long as you don't go pulling their attention too hard, yeah."

"OK, let's get going. I'm sure Ace is busy with other things, so I don't want to ask him unless I really need it. He'll probably charge me money, and I don't have much right now."

"I think I could expense it to the Chosen. But you're the boss."

They took a quick look at the warnings on the message board, and left Emerald City through another one-way rotating doorway.

"You're totally judging me, aren't you?" Dayo said.

"My good friend, I am sorry that the dress makes you uncomfortable. It does look like it would leave an indentation in the skin, as tight as it is."

"It's the stares that make me the most uncomfortable. I mean, I used to like wearing things like this awhile ago, but Onyekachi was picking apart every little thing this time. Every little scuff, every speck of tarnish, not tight enough, not enough cleavage. Tumelo's sandy eyeballs, I feel like a pervy dress-up doll."

"You can wear whatever you like around me, you know that."

"These little skulls have some decent, and expensive, buff enchantments, so now I'm torn. Say the word and I'll put my robes back on instead."

"But you've still got all that makeup on. Seems a shame to just rub it all off, you spent a long time getting that all just right, didn't you?"

"I... he wouldn't let me leave until I did," Dayo fumed.

"Well, next time a thief does something stupid and you get dirty, then you can clean it off and let it go back to the way I'm used to. I say we just leave it until then, because we've got places to be."

"Tell me truthfully. How much do you hate the dress?"

"Honest? I only hate it insofar as you do. Maybe less."

"You don't hate it?"

"I won't lie, that whole moment at the inn was both literally and figuratively a smoke show. You fill it out fantastically well. But if you don't like it, I don't like it."

Dayo sighed. "I owe Mesi five currency then. She totally called your answer. I had my money on 'runs screaming in horror'. That's what they did in school when I dressed kind of this way. I won't repeat the names they called me."

"Your classmates' parents were probably prudes following Imamu."

"Yeah, they literally were. Bunch of high-factioner's kids, for the most part. I just want to be seen for me, not... all this. Sorry, I know you know all that. I'm just flustered. I thought I'd lost you back there, and he was gonna kill me with another lecture."

"Happy to spare you that. So, I guess you don't mind accompanying me to Onyx Township?"

"I have literally no other purpose right now. I'm to be 'indispensable, alluring, and persuasive'."

"What if I asked you to go for a roll in the hay?"

"I... would be obliged to join you."

Nuru thought for only a brief moment about the mermaid. "Bah. Obligated's no fun. How much does Mesi know about what happened?"

"I'll have to tell her sometime. I haven't yet; I'm hoping I have a better outcome to spin it with when that moment comes."

"A better outcome than...? No, no. What I meant was, how did she take the news of what we did back at Way Station?"

"Oh! She was fine with it. If anything she was little disappointed we didn't go further than a handjob."

"Disappointed? Why?"

"I told her I wanted to do more, and she was sad that I held back for her sake. I'm certain she still feels guilty about running out on my birthday threesome."

"So you're damned if you do for your own sake because you want it to be your own idea, damned if you don't for your own sake because you want to, damned if you don't for his sake because he's fixated on me joining, and damned if you don't for her sake, if she's really supporting it. You want it to happen, he wants it to happen, and she wants it to happen, but you don't want to be pressured more than anything else. Right?"

"I'm either fucked figuratively, or literally. Or both. But what do you want out of this?"

"I want you to tell him to quit acting like a worse horny teenager than me and leave my private affairs alone, that I need companions who can be discrete, and for that reason you agreed to keep him guessing in order to make me happy. I furthermore instructed you to tell him to go shove his head up his ass, so he could get his foot dislodged from his mouth, and if he doesn't like it, he can bend his dick around backwards too and go fuck himself."

Dayo's eyes opened wide with shock. "I... I can't tell him that."

"Don't act like you're saying it for yourself. I just entrusted you to pass a message, and you're doing your duty by preserving the content of that message. Claim messenger's immunity if you have to. I've recently learned that's a real protection, but you've probably known for ages."

"You're right! Oh, gods, he's going to lose his mind."

"Yeah, that look on his face when I Leveled to Eleven in front of him was priceless. I can't wait 'til you get to see it too."

"Now I really want to jump your bones."

"Well, too bad, because I'm going to wait until you beg me to make sure you're being genuine. I know you won't do that for anyone else, even for him."

"No, I won't." She flushed. "I've never begged, for anyone."

"And of course, I forbid you to tell him that, so he doesn't try to force you to do it, because if you tell him then I can't trust you and the deal's off forever, and you'll be too nervous to make it sound genuine if he forces you anyway. So there you have it, you're perfectly safe."

She bit her lip. "Yeah."

"Speaking of which, I have a dilemma I need your help with."

"Uhm, what's that?"

"Help me explain to my succubus that consent is important."

"She doesn't believe it is?"

"I thought she understood, but..."

Nuru explained the situation with the mermaid, leaving out Furaha's name and the reason he'd gone there.

"Oh, that's horrible," Dayo said. "I'm glad she was alright."

"Me too. Here's the thing, I had to fight with Sanaa to help me with that initial distraction. She wanted me to join in, instead."

"Demons," Dayo spat. "No offense, but they earned their reputation several times over."

"But isn't Tumelo kind of a demon? I thought I heard that somewhere, pre-eidetic."

The valkyrie took a deep breath. "You know, I keep hearing things like that. 'Devil Gods,' or just 'devils,' the High Factions call them, right to our faces; all the Low-Faction gods. And they're demonic in race, if you squint hard enough; they're far more than mere demons of course, but Neeoka's a draconid and Tumelo's like a whole colony of beholders joined at the rootstalk. The way I've heard it described, they each have their principles, and they stick to them - good or bad, you know exactly what they're about, kind of like demons with their sources of power. Tumelo wants to take the best parts of history, the best parts of humanity, and forge an ever-greater civilization out of it. Jelani wants to help everyone feel like they have a place in it, even if that place disrespects their dignity as a person - ahem. I'm not getting on my soapbox today, I promise; but you're asking what's inherently a political question. Mesi's right, you do have a lot of those."

"How about this, then. What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

Dayo made a clapping motion, but her hands passed by each other without touching.

"A whiffing noise? Sorry, I haven't a clue what that's about."

"I'm not sure there's an answer, it's just a question that makes you think."

"That could be." The valkyrie looked away, frowning.

"You're not interested in it at all, are you?"

"Sorry. I'm obligated to keep up the small talk, but if I tried to pretend to actually be interested I feel like you'd know and I'd die of embarrassment."

"OK, back to the original problem and I'll be quiet then."

"What, you're serious? You want to give a demon a conscience?"

"It does sound nutty when you put it like that," Nuru said.

"But you're stuck with her, I suppose it's good to at least try."

"Yeah, I just need her to understand that people don't like to be forced into it."

"Did you try telling her?"

"She basically said, 'but if you're enjoying it, then who cares?' "

"She's got a firm grasp of how men usually think about it."

"Oh yeah, you're not a woman, maybe I'd better find one to ask."

"Well, hold on now, I was one once. Technically you can say I still am."

"You just don't like to admit it."

"I don't like to be treated like one, some of the ways they are, and that goes directly to your question I'd say."

"OK, so help me figure out why it's important for a woman to be treated better than that."

"Men have problems with it too, but I doubt if we'll reach her on moral grounds. Let's find a way to speak her language, in terms related to her interests. How does she get her EXP? I mean, sex, obviously, but, how exactly?"

"It's partly time-based, like how long people have sex around her or because of her or something. And then special multipliers for bonus conditions."

"Bonus conditions? Like when you walk away sore afterwards?"

"Well, maybe, I don't know that one specifically. But she said, different things that happen. How corrupt the people become as a result of it, I guess, the different things they do."

"How adventurous they are with it?"

"Yeah, that sounds right. How many people involved, that kind of thing."

"Oh, my. Well you tell her that people who don't get to choose don't like to do new things, they want as little to do with it as possible."

"OK, hold on."

"You're gonna do it right now?"

"Sure, why not?"

"I- well, no reason, I guess; I've seen you do it before. I just felt for a second like that's something that can only be done in your sleep, or on a full moon, or something. That's what I hear most people do, and that's what I keep expecting."

"Yeah, I can kinda see why they arrange their pacts that way, but that's not what I did. In retrospect I should have been more careful about those terms. Maybe."

"Too chatty, or distracting, otherwise?"

"Distracting, yes. She likes to whisper these perverted little nursery-type rhymes in my head when I'm busy doing other things. I keep having to catch myself in conversation not to repeat some of it; it's really filthy. On the other hand, if we did it the other way she couldn't read people for me, so... yeah, it's worked out better, considering how little we fight over most things. Just need to get this figured out now."