Draconia or the End of Reason
Chapter 9 — Pride and the Pallor
“A Kid?” Repeated Orchid in disbelief.
“Yep.” Drably replied Kimberley. “Think about it, secret agent girl. Did you see any of those around since you got here?”
“Hm. Now that you mention it...”
“Well, it’s simply because kids kick teenagers and adults’ asses when it comes to raw creativity. They’re pure, unfettered dreamers. They live in a layer all of their own...and only come to play in Major League every July 32nd.”
Pierce chimed in.
“Yeah, I can’t believe you don’t know that, Orchid! Seriously, how new to this are you?” It was a rhetorical question, however, since he immediately turned to the message cut into the grass. “And that shit ain’t making no sense! Get my nanny back? Kids here don’t have nannies!”
“Yeah, you got me.” Admitted Kim with a frown. “I know enough about the snotty little bastards to know they’re doing just fine and dandy without any babysitters in their La-la-land. So saving a newbie Dreamer like Janet here to get her to rescue one? I mean, that just doesn’t work.”
Cogs were turning in Orchid’s head. The Aspect had told her everything that transpired that night had been connected. This mysterious kiddie rescue was strange enough, according to her companions, to be a possible piece of the puzzle. And she smelled a lead...A possible one.
“Okay,” She eventually said. “What if this kid is bound to our layer?”
“Huh...We’d see him?” Quipped Kim.
“Well, sure, unless he used his powers to stay here and being a master at hiding his presence. Is that even possible?”
“Technically I guess. But, you know, when kids have a whimsyland to go to without any need for permission, they tend to storm the bouncy castle.”
“Oh, okay you smartass,” Snarled Orchid, starting to get irritated by Lilith’s original self. “How about you come with a fucking theory?“
Beautiful, busty Lilith came between them.
“Mistress! Me! Calm down...please!”
“Who are you calling Mistress?!” Barked Kim. “Did I really raise you to kneel and worship on the first date?!”
“N...No ma’am!” Apologized Lilith. “I just...Mis...Janet, are...”
“Is this load of bullshit really coming from some part of my brain?! I know you’re none of my business anymore, but come on! You’re making me look bad over here!”
“Hum, actually you’re making an ass out of yourself quite well.” Observed Janet, irked.
“The fuck did you say?”
“You heard me.”
Orchid and Kim stared at each other with anger and contempt while demure Lilith lamented her dear Mistress had to see such a rude part of herself. All the positive lessons she had learned since the advent of Nightmare—respect, restraint, and, naturally, her Anchor—had vanished, replaced by her immature impulsiveness. Becoming Lilith had its downsides, sure...but staying as Kim was even worse.
And though she knew Orchid was an highly trained agent, the former her was nothing to fuck with either. There was a reason why a now major vampire clan included her in their initial recruitment drive. From a young age, she had been a survivor, almost a beast. While still somewhat one-sided, the confrontation promised to get unpleasant.
Though not as unpleasant as the car that came rolling down the street during this tense moment.
It was, ostensibly, a pimp mobile. Long, tinted, disquietingly pink. It rolled slowly, with purpose, down the empty street, and stopped right in front of the bickering duo. The window films prevented the gang to see who was at the wheel, but the rear door opened, revealing a familiar figure.
“Forgetting something, you dumb broads?”
Pierce stepped back, unable to believe is eyes. There, in front of the tasteless car, stood the tall, muscular figure of Santa Monica’s iron-gripped dictator.
“M...Master!” Gasped Lilith. “What are you doing here?”
“I’d like to think I’m here because you reported Orchid’s failure like a good girl, but no. I had to rely on my network to know that my two agents were frolicking on the job.” He replied, irked.
“I...I can explain...” Nervously answered Janet.
“No you fucking can’t. I’m not here to listen to bullshit, but to make things crystal fucking clear before the dunces of the Beverly Hills self-defense force rush to their death trying to apprehend me.”
Slivers of his flesh broke off and flew to Orchid, Kim and Lilith, around whom the sharp pieces started gravitating menacingly.
“Do your fucking job and find me that fucking Oni, or I. Will. End. You.”
To further emphasize his request, he clenched his fist, sending a sharp pain through the women’s skulls. They sank to their knees, short of breath. In the background, Pierce, the only one spared, timidly raised his hand, quite reasonably terrified by the archmage from beyond the ocean.
“Huh...What about me...Sir?”
“Yeah, what about you, random shmuck? Why are you even talking to me? PISS OFF!“
“YES SIR!”
The freshly rescued man fled without so much as a look behind his back. Which didn’t really offend Orchid nor Lilith. The living flower even let out a sigh of relief. Kim, on the other hand, pointed at her blonde alter-ego.
“Hey! That masochistic bimbo is the one you sent on that mission! I’ve got nothing to do with this, so why are you letting him go and not me?!”
“Yeah, right. Do you take me for an idiot?” Snarled Ryûjin. “You’re the Aspect’s girlfriend. Orchid’s going to need you to distract the Alpha Bitch.”
“I’m not going back into the Heart of Sin, do you...”
Another violent jolt of pain. A change of tone, she realized, was in order.
“I mean...Aren’t I more valuable to you as an hostage?”
“Mph. If I was a yellow-bellied rat you would, but fortunately I’m lucky enough not to have been born American.” He answered with a mocking, contemptuous smile. “And I don’t negotiate with Aspects. Now, kindly get your ass to Hollywood and bring the bitch down a peg.”
He called back the flying blades into his body, and sat back in the pimpmobile. Right before he closed the door...
“By the way, you should realize that’s my daughter watching you. I wouldn’t recommend disappointing her.”
With that, the tacky ride departed, leaving the three women panting on the suburban lawn.
Somehow, they did not feel relieved.
“Might I be of further service, Madam?”
“Well I’m stuffed so...as far as feasting goes, thanks, I’m good. I wonder if you could tell me more about this castle.”
I’d chat with him about the Lost Angels story but...that’s fine. I’ve got you, don’t I?
“Certainly. It’s a mix between medieval stronghold, church gothic style and German expressionism.”
“Huh...yes, it does look that way, but I was thinking more practical.”
“I was being practical.” Answered Bastian, confused.
“No, I mean...Gah, never mind. I’ll just ask directly. Why and how the hell did it pop up? I fell asleep in a hotel on a mountain ridge, and shazam! Castle. Now, I’m the boss of this dream, and I want out. So if you have any clue as to why this fucking thing is keeping me prisoner, that’d be great.”
Bastian nods in earnest.
“I’m afraid the walls are hiding a great deal from me, but I’ll help to the best of my abilities, Madam. I can tell they are protective of you, but content to avoid conversation.”
“Yeah, I kinda gathered that. How do I get out?”
“I’d imagine through the hearse, but I wouldn’t advise it.” He looked away. “There’s quite the vengeful mob outside.”
Oh, great.
Orchid, Lilith and Kimberley all walked Northeast, down Santa Monica Boulevard, in complete silence. The dark-haired tomboy groveled and dragged her feet, the meek last-century flapper hung her head in shame of having displeased her Master, and the flower woman frowned, deep in thought. There was still quite a way before Hollywood, and eventually, it was Lilith who decided to break the silence by addressing her other half.
“I know you don’t want to go there, dearie. But while Lord Ryûjin’s wrath is inescapable, you know you can resist Pearl, so don’t fret...think of the Anchor...”
“Aaaah, abnegation, is it?” Sighed the brunette. “You might as well tell me to cling to the taste of cinnamon toast crunch right now.”
“Wh...Wh...What? But...You must trust the Anchor! It’s everything! Your sanity! You became me to obtain it!”
“Yeah, and turns out Janet was proooobably right about it not being worth it.”
Lilith was appalled. Her fears did come to pass. Too much of Kim had been separated from her. She had been left defenseless against Nightmare. But just Lilith she was about to persuade Kim to rekindle her sacred link with Reason, Orchid let out a disillusioned chuckle.
“Ha ha ha. Wow, this bitch really did fuck us at every turn.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“This increased sex drive of mine, for starters...Good fucking thing Pierce left.”
“Why? Was he a douchebag or something?”
“Oh no, just my type actually, and I can do without temptation to cuckold my boyfriend...Rha, anyway! Remember all this speech about why I refused Anchoring? Pretty much all bullshit.”
Both Liliths stopped and turned to the operative.
“What?!”
“I mean, Griffith was a douchebag, but after the Paragon intervened I would totally have been in. But the Aspect wouldn’t have let me. The Anchoring process was merely exposing me to her spell. I had to bail.”
“And you didn’t tell us this because...?”
“Huh, perhaps because you announced being dead set on getting me back to Downtown? Anyway, your clingy fruit loop of a girlfriend told me everything we did tonight was as she had planned.”
“Bull.” Observed Kim.
“That’s what I thought, but then I realized...isn’t Ryûjin being dead set on sending us right into her HQ a bit, you know, convenient for her?”
“That’s just a tad dodgy indeed.” Conceded Lilith.
“It comes down to this Oni Changeling. Which we can now assume is his daughter’s nanny. A nanny the Aspect kidnapped, and very recently at that.”
Lilith brought her finger to her lips.
“Why, yes, it would be safe for her to assume Master would make sure to retrieve her.”
“Will you cut it with this Master crap?” Reprimanded her rude half. “And that doesn’t even make sense. There’s no way she’d be sure he’d just send the three of us!”
“Well,” started to explain Janet, “First off, he didn’t. We have a pissed, invisible Dreamshaping wunderkind stalking us, remember?”
Kim silently mouthed “Oh, right.”
“And secondly, she would have a way if she was sure that Ryûjin could sense her lingering presence all over two people who just happened to be a secret agent suited for rescue and extraction and the person she loves. I mean come on, he’s no moron, he’s bound to have a squad watching over us at this very moment. But there’s no way he would resist binding us to his service and sending us on point.”
“Alright, point taken. But why would she be sure we’d get caught by that Rising Sun fucker in the first place?”
“Well, I’m thinking backup plan here. But before we get to that, let’s go back to the very beginning.”
“Knock yourself off.”
Orchid lived for this kind of cinematographic moment. One-liners were her main obsession, but showing off her deductive skills certainly fit the bill as well. She took a great inspiration, then declared with her best movie trailer voice.
“For all the time you’ve been living this Dream, the Aspect had a problem. Her girlfriend, that’s you, had run away from home for fear of becoming a Changeling. As bad luck would have it, you stumbled upon a complete douchenozzle who turned you into his male supremacy bitch.”
“It’s called complementarity.” Protested Lilith. “And it’s actually v...”
“Oh, shut up!”
“Thanks, Kim. Anyway, she couldn’t strike in the very heart of the Anchored, so she had to lure you out. I assume she tried a variety of things throughout the years.”
“Oh, you know it.”
“Then one day, one of her thralls, Flora Mendèz, tells her she knows, personally, the President’s secret love daughter. Which would be me.”
“Big whoop.” Shrugged Kim.
“Right. But you know who would, without a doubt, give a fuck?”
Both parts of the Aspect’s beloved realized what she meant.
“Griffith.”
“Bingo.” Smiled Orchid, proud of her demonstration. “First step was to send Flora to appear in my dreams, so I’d obsess over saving her. She probably also sent some kind of pointer to Griffith. That way, upon my arrival, he would be dead set on securing my loyalty. So he sent you, his right-hand girl and confidante, if not to retrieve me, then at the very least to recruit me after I’d been led inside the fortress. He knew his creepy ass didn’t have a shadow of a chance at persuading me, unlike you adorable ball of smiles.”
“I’m not adorable.”
“You were when you were together with Lil.” Answered the black woman with a cutesy smile. “Anyway, that’s why she caught me and corrupted me. She never intended to transform my ass right away. The whole friggin’ point was to get me into the Anchored HQ to be saved and then realize it only made things worse. She needed me to escape...and she needed me to make you, appointed responsible for my enslavement by your smarmy boss, look bad.”
“...Oh, fuck me running. She got you here and turned you into...” Kim pointed at Orchid’s Dream form. “This, just to get me out of Downtown?”
“That’s the gist of it.”
“What a devious bitch.” She chuckled. “That’s my Pearl alright.”
Kim seemed convinced, but Lilith still frowned.
“So how does it relate to Lord Ryûjin, exactly? He noticed us on the beach by chance, if I quite recall.”
“You’re right.” Nodded Orchid. “There’s no way us being captured by Ryûjin was Pearl’s main plan. All she needed was to capture you and use a Languid to draw Kimberley out. She could have done that with her own troops.”
“And since your childhood friend was in cahoots her the whole time, I can safely assume that going through Santa Monica unhindered would have led to our capture anyway.”
“Indeed. In all likelihood, the whole fucking city was a trap months in the making. The only two places where she could not reach were Downtown, which I wouldn’t approach with a Sherman tank, and Santa Monica, which is why she secured a contingency plan here. If we had traversed it safely, we would have been fucked in the Palisades, and if Ryûjin did catch us, well, the rest is history.”
Orchid stopped a few seconds to let her self-appointedly awesome speech sink in.
“So, granted, we might have ended up taking the most convoluted route, but here we are. Walking right into the mousetrap, and unable to say anything about it. And, of course, you. Right back as you were when you were still together.”
“...And bereft of Anchor.” Grimly observed Lilith.
“I can’t freaking believe it.” Fulminated Kimberley. “Is there anything, any goddamn thing we can do to stop her from capturing me and forcing me to lose my mind?”
“Well, easy. We complete Ryûjin’s mission.”
“Yeah. Easy.”
Orchid chuckled.
“What?”
“...I find you lack of faith disturbing.”
So the castle wants to keep me inside because the Dreamers are after my ass? Thanks but no thanks.
“Well it turns out I very much want to make it up to that angry crowd! So how about you tell this castle I don’t fucking WANT its protection?!”
Bastian looks utterly apologetic...Almost afraid.
“Well...From what I gather, it has little interest in even listening to you. Not while the Dream is still incomplete.”
“Why wouldn’t it listen to me? It’s part of me! I dreamt it!”
“I don’t know, Madam. I...”
The butler gasps, startled. He looks over my shoulder, but when I turn around, I see nothing but the walls. What the hell?
“I...Yes, I understand...” He articulated with a frightened voice.
“Oi, Bastian, what are you doing?”
“Yes, I will tell her.”
“Who are you talking to?”
He looks at me again, and it’s pretty apparent he doesn’t like this situation any more than I do. He proceeds to state, with the slow and awkward tone of someone being given a letter to read at gunpoint...
“Hi Draconia. Let’s just say I don’t care much for your current mindset.”
“Huh, you’re a fucking castle, you kinda don’t get to review my opinion.”
“I do if your opinion is to feed yourself to the pissed-off Anchored outside. I know being suicidally virtuous was encouraged in the old world, but, well, it’s old for a reason.”
“It’s my world. I want it back.”
“Yes, and that’s why you’ll stay here until you mature a bit. You’re no Queen. Just a vapid little princess letting a bleeding heart get the best of her.
I blink.
“Are you telling me I’m being purposefully held prisoner by my own friggin’ dreams?!”
And so poor Bastian relays...
“Absolutely. You might me more resistant than all those humans, being exposed to the Dream from birth, but don’t worry. You, too, will change...and live up to thy crown."
“So, got the plan?”
“I think I do, Mistress.”
Once again, Lilith’s tranquil, docile smile pissed Kimberley off.
“Am I really going to have to tell you to can it every fucking time?”
“N...no, Mistress, I’ll try.” Meekly answered Lilith.
“Good. And yes, I understand the plan.”
“Awesome. Let’s go then.”
The trio got out of the building and into the deserted street. The Dream was usually scarcely populated outside of protected areas like Downtown or Santa Monica, but this place was just straight up empty. There could have been people hiding in their homes, except that would have turned the Dreamscape into a vivid patchwork. No such thing here—every single house had turned into ivory palaces with gold-domed towers.
They were at the point where the Northeast-bound Santa Monica Boulevard turned East. In other words...They stood at the gates of Hollywood. The world’s silver-medalist dream factory. Changeling Heaven.
And to preside over that lifeless alabaster desert was a massive Romanesque castle with walls of pure white and more pointy towers that you could lock princesses in. It was right in the middle of the street, cutting the fork in the road and adjacent buildings, as if someone had just dropped it from above.
“Okay, now what is that thing?” Inquired Orchid.
“Hmm...I have several ideas. None of them good.”
“It sure looks like it warped the entire area around it.”
“Huh...” Softly intervened Lilith. “When I spoke to Mom after our splitting, she mentioned that Pride made himself a new place.”
The two brunettes turned to the blonde.
“Pride. Awesome.”
“We’re so out of here.”
The group then started to hurry North, only to be stopped dead in their tracks when a thunderous sound boomed behind them.
“HOLY SHIT!”
Orchid would have recognized this sound anywhere—they were dealing with military ordnance. Her training kicked in and she immediately tried to get defenseless Lilith to safety. But just as she was running...She saw a big, two-meter tall portal in the middle of the street. A rip in reality, but to where? All she could see was a thick dust cloud and the sound of helicopter blades.
A chopper in the mechanics-wrecking Dreamscape? No...there was only one possibility. The rip in reality...was a path to reality. For a mere instant, Janet was compelled to run, risk everything to escape the Nightmare, go right back to the real world...and then she realized that while there was no place like home, it probably wasn’t worth braving a military chopper.
Besides, as the dust cleared, someone appeared, standing on the ravaged ground, looking slightly annoyed. Someone Orchid, as well as the two Tamiyamas, recognized in a heartbeat. Michael Wright, legendary sexy action movie star...and the Aspect of Pride. He looked exactly as he did for all these years of incarnating the male ideal on the silver screen. His boyish yet roguish features were unmarred by the Dreamscape, and his clothing was quite casual, but he didn’t exactly look normal either, for he was wearing some manner of mechanical exoskeleton. It didn’t look too intimidating, with its light frame and lack of ostentatious weaponry.
The military chopper hovered above him, its searchlight locked on him as the human pilot prepared to launch another missile. The Aspect shook his head in disdain, then dramatically pointed at the flying death machine. Orchid shivered. That guy’s power was known even outside the Dream—hell, he had battled the US army outside LA for days now...And she quite remembered the Chiefs of Staff ordering a full ceasefire on account of the battle being ridiculously one-sided. Why was this lone chopper here? The agent didn’t have much time to ponder...as the machinery on Pride’s arm activated in what looked like an elaborate—if obvious—CGI animation.
“NO! STOP!”
Her pleas were in vain. In mere seconds, Pride was now sporting a fearsome-looking hand cannon and started firing quick, luminous bursts of energy. Probably just for the benefit of his audience, as the helicopter exploded as the very first shot connected. Just completely burst apart, without so much as a good-looking fireball. One of the rotor blades flew right past the Changeling, stabbing the earth without him even flinching.
Then, with a contented chuckle, he departed from the battlefield through the portal, which closed behind him.
“Sorry for the delay, girls.” He declared with a winning smile. “I’m all yours.”
Lilith was terrified. Her more courageous companions were merely afraid. Everywhere you went in Lost Angels, you heard about how the Aspect of Pride could end you at any moment. How even the immensely powerful Ryûjin dared not pretend he would prevail if the action star swooped in on the Sekigahara. How there was nothing preventing Wright to reign supreme over the fallen metropolis. And how, despite all this, his influence was ultimately minimal.
Everybody knew the Aspect of Pride, but nobody really knew anything about him. For all three women, this encounter was just one big interrogation.
“Speechless, are you?” He jovially began by saying. “I do steer clear of the limelight these days...I can’t just kick back and enjoy fame while the Queen’s Dream is at risk, can I?”
“What do you want from us?” Asks Orchid with her by-the-book voice.
“Oh, nothing much, really. I just wonder why the hell would my esteemed colleague waste so much resources for this scrawny kid.”
The look he gave Kim wasn’t hostile, or even contemptuous. He simply appeared puzzled, much to the deceptively old street urchin’s irritation.
“Yeah, well, if you’d told her to cut the crap and let me go, that would actually be great.”
“Ha! Did I try, Tamiyama junior. Lust doesn’t care. She loves the Dream, but she’s too consumed by her desire to actually do something to protect it. What the hell did you do when you were together, kid? I’ve seen adoring fans less clingy than she is.”
Kim hung her head down, her fists trembling.
“...I did nothing.” She soberly replied. “Let’s go, girls.”
She took a step Northwards, and was blinded by a flash of light.
As it subsided, she found herself in a cage. A golden birdcage suspended from the ceiling of a gigantic room.
“What a hot plan this was, Orchid. Great job.”
She grabbed two of the gleaming bars and attempted to pry them open. They were way too sturdy to be gold, but there was kind of a more pressing matter...The sheer drop below. The room, some kind of auditorium uncharacteristically bathed in light, was easily three or four stories tall. Getting out of that cage meant falling over the rows of seats below. Cushioned at they might have been, they probably wouldn’t prove helpful.
Then, from the side of the room, a door opened, and saw enter Pride, wearing a sharp suit beneath his exoskeleton. Kim gasped when she saw what he was carrying—golden birdcages similar to hers...but tiny compared to him. Maybe twice the size of his head, no more. The tomboy checked—her cage was quite larger than her. Could it be...?
Yes. Upon closer inspection, Kim realized the room wasn’t particularly gigantic—she was tiny. And so, probably, were the people in the other two cages. Pride sat down, snapped his finger, and both disappeared. He then raised his head to look at her, extending an open hand straight in front of him.
“Miss Tamiyama! Might I attract your attention to the stage?”
Kim turned around, and saw, indeed, the logical conclusion to any auditorium. It was of the old school theater variety, with a wooden floor, red curtains and a painted background depicting a picturesque fairy tale castle in a peaceful meadow. And in front of it, Orchid and Lilith...attached to marionette strings.
“Welcome, one and all, to the little big world of Lost Angels!” Announced Michael with a portentous voice. “Today, as always, I’ll be your playwright.”
Orchid could not move. Not her limbs, not her lips, nothing save for her eyes. Her body was still her own—as far as you could call this living tree a body—but the strings robbed her of any will to move. She just knelt there on the stage, like an inert doll, while the gigantic Aspect of Pride demonstrated he was every bit as crazy as his title evoked.
“Sooo...I’m kind of in charge of everything around here, but I’m currently busy repelling some full-metal jackasses. Still, you girls are the most important thing to happen in months and for all of Pearl’s irrationality, you screwing things up would be the worst case scenario, so I’d like to make sure things go smoothly. Thus...REHEARSAL!”
He clapped, and all the lights went off, leaving him under an ominous ray of light.
“You, dear girls, are naught but figments of your Queen’s mind,” cheekily recited the Alpha Changeling, “standing at the threshold of one of her most intense corners. You know how powerful the Dream is. In the eyes of the dying Normalcy, Janet, you jumped into Lost Angels, lost your humanity, your self-control, your childhood friend and, most importantly, your desire to return, all in ten minutes and fifty-one seconds.”
Eleven minutes? Thought Janet. Time really is dilated.
“And yet you think you can conquer Hollywood? Moths have more control over the flames that burn them. Don’t let Lust’s lovesick desperation confuse you. There is no improvisation here. There is only the script. Written by whom? Well, as the Queen’s greatest knight I’d like to claim me, but no...Desire writes the script. All of our desires. The outcome already inside of you. Hell, your form is kind of a spoiler, isn’t it?”
Suddenly, the agent stood up awkwardly, mechanically. Right in front of her, a puppet—a real one, not just a Dreamer attached to strings—falls down. It is Flora. The driving force for all of Janet’s recent troubles...and yet, she found her body drawn to hers, in slow motion, as if in a romantic dream. Giggles even resonate around them. Pride isn’t the most subtle dramatist.
“Yep!” He joyously exclaims. “Let’s face it. Best case scenario, you get in and out with that Oni in tow. You’re still bound to LA, aren’t you? And Flora already chose most of what you are now so...time to work on your heartfelt thanks for getting you out of dreary Washington, I guess.”
Orchid connected with puppet-Flora and embraced her lovingly. Wooden as she was, the traitor’s effigy gave off the exact same floral fragrance she smelled over at Mistgem Island. She even giggled and spoke.
“You’re unlucky, aren’t you my Orchid? Ryûjin’s brat separating you from your Mistress...I’m so glad you decided to face your fate and meet me.”
“...I wouldn’t run from you, Flora...” Answered Janet with a breathy, vapid voice.
Wait, what? No she didn’t. Janet wanted to break the Changeling that had replaced her friend in half. And yet...she couldn’t help herself from acting like a loving submissive.
“I’m your offshoot...you are my mother tree. Who I was doesn’t matter...I only exist to grow into the role you want from me.” Orchid could even feel this hypothetical future her’s elation as she gave a blissful smile. “I’ll serve, I’ll join Mistgem Island to further the goals of our Queen...Whatever is your wish, oh mother tree.”
And, with that last syllable, Janet was once again locked in place, her features frozen in docile admiration.
“Ah, yes...” Commented Pride. “A beautiful photograph. Let’s call it ‘Cheeky Human Realizing the Dream’s Obvious Superiority’. Or...Epiphany!”
Pride wasn’t the most subtle dramatist at all.
“So that’s your role. Be a good little agent, stick to the natural order, and maybe Flora will let you do more than lick pussy.”
Pride’s display of...what, exactly? God complex? Did not affect Orchid’s opinion in any way, but at least it was only humiliating as opposed to humiliating and dangerous. She thus scoffed and went back to deplore her immobility in the arms of someone she now loved...huh...hated?
She took a closer look at Flo...Mother Tree? Utter confusion engulfed her. That didn’t feel right. Maybe she should rehearse some more in her own head? Yes, that would clarify things...
“As for you, Lilith!” Announced Wright. “Fragment of Lust’s beloved. A being of pure sexual fantasy. Whatever script you follow, you’ll end up moaning in someone’s bed. In Hollywood, in Santa Monica...the song pretty much remains the same for you. Do I even have to manipulate you, really?”
He snapped his fingers one more, and the marionette strings dissolved. Lilith hung her head down in acknowledgment.
“Don’t worry. No surprise bad endings for you there. Only bliss...in both your Mother’s and your creator’s arms.”
“M...Mommy and Lord Ryûjin?”
“Why yes!” Declared the cyborg Changeling as if announcing Lilith had won the lottery. “Lust is quite territorial and our dear Japanese friend just loves to rage on the whole forced internment thing back in the 40’s. Which I understand, of course, but unlike most Changelings, I only want to keep my beautiful city safe. After the last of the old world is consumed, I entirely intend to bring all the factions back together. Who has time to dream about War, after all?”
Two further puppets dropped from the ceiling.
“My beautiful little girl...” Purred Jenny. “You can finally have the life of ease and delight you always deserved.”
“Hmpf.” Scoffs the white-haired Asian man. “You and your mother aren’t nearly enough tribute for me to forgive the Aspects but...that’s a start. Come and suck me, slave.”
Lilith wasn’t compelled. She was herself. She was free. Even her hopeless butt could realize this was a bad situation, though she couldn’t even begin to muster the strength to do something about it. She knew she should at least try to ignore him...Especially since Mistress Orchid seemed more than a little out of it. She had to fight it....Instead, she smiled. She wasn’t convinced such a future could really come to pass, but she liked the idea. So she sunk to her knees.
“Yes, Master. ”
From her vantage point, Kim struck her head against the bars. Pride, on the other hand, shed a tear of proud joy for reasons known only to him.
“...I was born to direct. All right! You did great, you two. Can’t wait to see your final performance in the Heart of Sin! Give it all you got, and you might just find your place in the Queen’s court!”
And with that...he clapped.
Pride’s strange puppet auditorium was gone. They were in the street again, but not the desert of gold-lined white palaces...on the contrary, that new sight was bustling and vibrant. Warped people roamed the streets, drinking, singing, dancing to the tune of some pop song over the loudspeakers. Much like in Santa Monica, every building seemed geared towards fueling the party, only it went quite a way further. There were sex shops, costume shops, a strip club with a sign big enough to make supermarkets cough, love hotels...you name it. Garish neon signs presiding over the lusty street. One in particular proudly announced “Hollywood—In and Out of your Dreams”. Kimberly scoffed.
“Wow, I know good taste isn’t the selling point around there but come on. Throw us a pyramid hotel and we’re in an entirely different town.”
The former Anchored turned to Orchid, certain she would get the joke. But she found the agent dumbfounded, crisscrossing her thighs as she looked around.
“Hey! Orchid! Janet! Whatever.”
“Shhh...I can’t hear Mother Tree’s voice...”
“...What?”
“I must...follow the plan...rescue...huh...I don’t know...Mother Tree will know. Where is she?”
“What the fuck are you on, Janet?”
“Dunno...” Answered the black woman, dazed.
“Maybe Mommy will know!” Squealed Lilith.
“Oh, yeah, good idea!”
Kim’s two companions began to walk sluggishly, as if needing to ponder each step and yet still ending up improvising. Two alpha-looking men accoasted them, and they smiled like two vulnerable airheads a token argument away from booking into a love hotel. And indeed, one of them wrapped his arm around Orchid’s waist, and the operative snuggled against him, squirming in anticipation. The teenage brunette gulped.
“Okay, what the hell did Pride do to them?”