The Midnight Sun

Artemis opens the door, and holds it for Maelik. The ambiance of the office is warm, comfortable, yet possessed of a slight gravitas appropriate for its purpose. The room beyond is none of these things.

Dark wood panels the room. A single enormous mirror fills the right wall. Tables with restraints, stocks, and other devices stand around the floor. A bed stands against one wall. Two hooks are embedded in the ceiling. A table holds a variety of whips, manacles, and other… instruments. The walls seem to press in; the lines of the architecture exude a sense of power and authority - two things that no longer belong to you. Any visitors to this room are immediately possessed of the feeling that they are seeing something very few people see, and that they should be fall to their knees and give thanks for the privilege of being allowed to see it.

Artemis scans the room, looking for a suitable place to have a conversation, before addressing Maelik.
“Grab a seat on the bed, the Madame will be here shortly.”

Her voice has changed, unconsciously, and now carries a slight edge of command that was hitherto absent, along with an emphasis on the word “Madame”.

“This room is is a dungeon.”

Naoki’s voice precedes her into the room, as she enters through the other door, on the left side of the room. She seems to be almost exactly as she was a moment ago, only having drawn her hair back into a long ponytail. No change in attire is obvious.

“Not in the traditional sense of the word, but rather in the erotic sense. You figure, like any form of art, there are a lot of ways to go about… copulation. Everyone has their own taste, preferences, fantasies and the like. This room is designed to have the equipment to fulfill a number of… exotic tastes. We’re not going to touch on any of that today, though.

After locking the door behind her, she moves over to the other door, and it too clicks shut. She leans up against what seems to be an upright coffin, crosses her arms, and addresses Maelik. Aware of his naivety, she attempts to keep her tone light and conversational.

“So tell me, if you would, about this individual whom you intend to seduce. What are they like? What sorts of characteristics do they have?”

She again finds herself amused as he draws his knees up and scooting away from her across the bed, but continues to maintain her straight face. Naoki smiles and nods appreciatively, letting Maelik drop his last point.

“It sounds like you’ve found someone very special, then, I’m happy for you. But let me refine my question, so I know where to direct my instruction. Do you think that it’s possible that you would harm them during the course of intercourse? Are you able to? I don’t know anything about your capabilities, their physiology, or the aura you mentioned. Because if you think that you might, we’re going to start with self control exercises.”

She nods again.

“Fair enough, self control exercises it is. Then we can lead into the more fun bits.”

Here, she allows herself a brief, mischievous smirk.

“As for the cuffs, that’s what they’re for. Some of the restraints here are for sport, but some of them, you might notice, are actually highly effective. Some are enchanted. We’ll have to pick some that are capable of holding you.”

“Try to remember this, though. I’m here to help. I’m not going to wrong you in any way, and if- at any point, you’d like to stop- for whatever reason, simply say so. I’ll stop at the slightest notice. You’re here because you’d like to be, to learn the skills you’ll need to please this lady you’re referring to, from someone who respects you, and isn’t going to harm you. In fact, in situations like these. involved parties usually decide on a safe word beforehand. A word that when uttered, all participants agree that all actions will stop, because someone is at their limit, and doesn’t wish to continue."

With her words, she attempts to convey how genuine she is.

"Would you like to decide on such a word now, or suggest some alternative means to keep you from doing anything untoward?”

Naoki listens as Maelik shares his weakness.

“Alright, so noted. Let’s… get to it then.”

She thinks for a moment, as Artemis fastens the restraints. How to test Maelik’s self control, without immediately driving him to burn the entire place down; an interesting challenge. She taps her foot, eyes flitting around the room. Her gaze comes to rest upon what seems to be a riding crop, hung on the wall. A small strip of leather, fashioned onto the end of a stick. The sort of thing one might use to spur a horse along.

Her mouth forms into a small ‘o’ before transitioning into the most mischievous grin yet. She picks the riding crop from its hook on the wall, and addresses Maelik. She slaps the leather into her other hand as she approaches, footsteps clicking menacingly across the floor towards him. Her voice maintains the same light and friendly tone as before, but now it seems somehow perverted, sarcastic. Intimidating, even, intense malice hidden behind that pleasant smile.

“Alright. Here’s how this first exercise is going to work. You’re going to sit there on the bed; find a comfortable position. And I’m going to take this riding crop…”

She raises the stick above her head, preparing to strike… Her arm comes down!...

To place the riding crop very gingerly on the end of Maelik’s snout.

“And place it on you, just so. And you’re not going to move. You’re going to sit there, very still, with the thing balanced exactly like that.”

The stick begins to waver slightly, not perfectly balanced, but she corrects it, sliding it slightly to one side to achieve more perfect positioning.

“Excellent. Stay just like that. This ought to be an excellent test of your self control,” she turns to Artemis, “Artemis! Pick something from that box, it’s your turn.”

And so, Demonlord Maelik has a large number of highly inappropriate objects stacked on his head in what might be the dirtiest game of tower building ever played.

(Artemis won. Naoki got overconfident, and tried to balance the double-ended twenty inch ceramic apparatus across the tips of Maelik’s horns.)

Over the course of the next couple of hours, Madame Naoki imparts upon Maelik a portion of her wisdom, as it pertains to things that are lewd. Naoki and Artemis work in tandem, not speaking to each other much, yet often working cooperatively with a high degree of coordination, sometimes even finishing each other… -s sentences. They use every resource available to them to provide a true 'hands on' learning experience. The extent of the education they impart isn’t very deep, keeping in mind that Maelik is very new to the whole concept, leaving most of the subtleties to another day, yet making very sure that he’ll have all of the knowledge and he will need to accomplish his stated task.

Kevin saunters over to the exhausted woman, bearing a glass of ale. "Almost looks like you need the room before the ale, miss. When you're done with your drink, head for the desk through that door, they'll take good care of you."

A short few hours after the 'exercises' Maelik's contented snores were interrupted when he shifted in his sleep and dislodged some of the heavier objects from their precarious balance, causing them to tumble down and jab him in uncomfortable places.

"Hhunnng?" the demon groaned in irritating as he lazily opened his eyes. The sight of shackles and chains that greeted him immediately reminded him of the bad old days and before his mind could catch up and remind him where he was he had already pounced off the bed and slammed into the door.

The low growls and violent snarls mixed with other indistinguishable (although equally frightening) noised quickly subsided after another few quick slams against the other walls, presumably one of the knocks to his noggin helping to jump start his sense.

When he eventually regained his composure Maelik wasted no time in rearming himself in his armor and helmet, a process that took another ten or so minutes and then calmly opening to door back into Naoki's main office. Whether she was occupying it or made little difference to the Lord as he'd merely give a meek, slightly embarrassed greeting, offer the foot long choco-cock he got the the candy shop as a method of repayment and slip back into the Sun proper.

He still had that other dinner out in the Plains to cater and armed with his new knowledge he vowed to impress his beloved with not only his exceptional cooking but also his newfound confidence! Now he just needed to find a way to better cement himself in her good books and he'd be set, and while he had a few ideas as to how he'd managed it not a single one was appealing for him.

"Oh well, the sacrifices one must make for love!" he mused as he sauntered into the kitchen to give them their daily inspirational pep talk/unrelenting browbeating. Once finished the rowdy romantic collected the tools he needed and left the bar to prepare for the picnic/bbq.

(Exit to Southern Gates)

Kevin bustles over to the newcomer and flashes him a winning smile. "Good evening, sir, what can I do for you?"

Kevin's grin never falters, despite the blood. He was used to much worse, with Hasdrubal in the building, after all. He pulls a set of phials from under the bar, and sets to mixing in a flurry of motion.

After few minutes, he places onto the bar a shot glass full of a liquid that looks like swirling, molten gold with tinges of royal purple. "This is a house special, Avalon. Try that on for size."

Kevin also sends to the kitchen for the meal. After a few minutes, a waitress places a plate with an enormous haunch of ham in front of Aithen. A cut has been made in the ham, revealing a perfectly-cooked interior dripping with juice. The smell of spices wafts from the meat.