>>736797
Oh, hey. What's up? You're not angry? I expected to get chased out of the temple, but not like this.

>Sarah following
Well, she's still hot, and someone who knows monster biology might be useful. She didn't look like much of a fighter, we can probably handle her if the Seraph had her whammied, although I think that was her first session.

>what do
Hesitate then

"Walk and talk. The plan was not to stick around a mob of angry Seraph victims."

>>736797
How did you first kill feel, anyways?

if she gets confused or angry flash your bounty hunter's license. you knew it was a monster the whole time but you needed to get in close and have it drop it's guard to be sure to kill it in one hit.

>>736803
You tell her to keep moving after you hesitate for a moment. She follows you, frowning.

"Look, it's okay, I'm not angry, alright? I don't know how the others are going to feel, but... well, it's probably a good thing you got the Seraph when you did, okay? I actually owe you one. Like, a really big one. It... it would've been bad for me to get tangled with a Seraph. That's all."

She sighs. "So... thank you. Here..." She pulls a scrap of paper from a pocket and scribbles down her phone number. "Take this. If you figure out how I can repay you, call me or text or something, okay?"

She smiles at you. "Thank you. From the bottom of my heart."

She leans up and kisses you on the cheek, then turns on her heel and heads off.

>What do you do?

>>736808
Put the phone number into your ph- wait we don't have a phone. We need to get a phone!

Go to the bounty office and claim the caaaassssshhhh then we can buy a phone and maybe something else cool. Also tell Douglas it went fine.

>It... it would've been bad for me to get tangled with a Seraph. That's all.
Hmm. I wonder if she's more than she seems. Or her parents were. Something that would have given the Seraph more power or leverage than it would have feeding off someone else.

>Thank you. From the bottom of my heart."
>She leans up and kisses you on the cheek, then turns on her heel and heads off.
Huh. Murder rescue for a first date? You might still have a chance.

>Put the phone number into your ph- wait we don't have a phone. We need to get a phone!
Our outfit is also lacking in pockets. I suppose we have some in our pants, but it will be annoying if we have to swap to biped anytime we want access.

I second buying a phone. I also want to add a heat lamp to the shopping list. We can totally go tiny snake and sleep under one for ultimate comfort.

>what do
Go cache in bounty, if the bounty office is open this late.

>>736811
we just need to get better at shapeshifting. then we can store the phone inside out body.

We could just get a purse.

>>736811
You head in the direction of the Bounty Hunting office, and discover it's still open! You head inside, and hand over the feather, informing them it's for the Seraph bounty.

The man at the desk pulls out some odd device and holds it up to his eye, examining the feather. He nods. "Well, it's the real deal. Gimme a second." He says, standing and heading into the back room.

He comes back out with your payment, in cash. "Thanks." He tells you, as you just sorta... put the wad of bills down your shirt, temporarily.

When you're outside and nobody's looking, you turn bipedal and pocket the cash. Then you head home.

It's too late to be buying anything, so you decide to wait until tomorrow. When you get home, you see that the lights are still on. When you head in, you see Douglas sitting at the kitchen table. Apparently he's been waiting for you, judging from the mug of coffee and the book.

He looks up as you enter, and is visibly relieved. "Oh, great, you're okay. How'd it go? You're not hurt, are you?"

>What do you do?

>>736819
Grin. I got a magic feather in one hand, a wad of cash in the other, and a kiss from a grateful, very well endowed catgirl.

All in all, a success I'd say!

*Beat*

How much is this anyways? (in reference to the money).

>>736821
He grins. "Huh, really? Good for you." He looks at the money you've received. "Well, assuming you save about half of that, it's enough that you could still buy yourself something nice. Two somethings nice, even. It's a good amount, it's what I'm getting at."

He sighs. "So, you want me to help you pick out a room or something? I mean, if you want?" He shrugs. "I don't know if you wanna stay up or something..."

>What do you say?

we can probably stay here for a bit longer, but i think getting our own place is important for our independence. so stay here for tonight, look for a place tomorrow.

We don't have enough money to get our own place I don't think. Yes, accept the offer of one of the spare rooms.

Also ask for info on shops around town. You need a phone and some other personal items. Like a toothbrush and stuff.

>I don't know if you wanna stay up or something...
You're the one who has to sleep.

What did you have in mind?

>pick a room
We should probably have a room for storing our stuff, and just for our own space, even if we do spend (some) nights in his bed.

>>736847
I don't think we've got the kind of money to buy our own place yet, and there's a lot we're still ignorant on. I think it's worth staying with a local contact for a while.

We should go shopping tomorrow, though.

>>736851
"O-oh, uh... well, I was gonna get to sleep, honestly... I mean, unless there was something you wanted to do with me, that required staying up..."

He pauses, apparently considering his words, then just face-palms. "Wow, it really sounds like I want to fuck you again, doesn't it? No, nothing like that. I'm just running on caffeine and fumes and I was worried for your life. I'm a bit disoriented."

He sighs. "Follow me, you can pick a room, okay?"

You head upstairs, and he shows you the two other bedrooms. They're functionally identical, but one has A WINDOW and the other DOESN'T.

He shrugs. "So, make your choice."

>What do you do?

>>736852
Window! It's a possible escape route and we can put a curtain over it for privacy.

>He pauses, apparently considering his words, then just face-palms.
This deserves giggles and light reassurances.

>room
Pick the window one, and then kiss him goodnight.

>>736855
You pick the room with the window, placing your cash in the bedside table and giving Douglas a goodnight hug and kiss. A goodnight kiss that involves tongue.

When you pull away, you assure him that even though he's a complete doofus, he's a dead sexy complete doofus. Then you tell him goodnight and close the door.

That night, lying in bed, you realize that the wall between your room and his is incredibly thin, judging from the barely-muffled panting and moaning coming from his room. Yup, you've got that pup completely wrapped around your finger.

Do you go to sleep tonight?

>Yes
>No

stay up and practice your shape shifting, you need disguise forms so you can go somewhere as someone else.

Geeze. We just did it a little over an hour ago. Does being a love god give him a shorter refractory period? Make him hornier?

Poor guy.

...we could go show mercy on him, but I think boning him all the time is a bad idea. Head to bed.

(You'll have to try how it feels with legs at some point).

Tomorrow's itinerary: shopping! Cell phone, heat lamp, maybe some different clothes. Could use pockets as a naga, or just the ability to dress up or down for jobs and such).

>>736857
Sneak out the window as a snake. Restlessly roam the nighttime streets. Eat someone's baby.

>>736858
You stay up for the rest of the night practicing shapeshifting. You can't really change species yet, though you discover that with some effort you can switch sex. However, all this really does is make you look like a more masculine version of yourself.

You're sure you can figure out SOMETHING you can do with this, though...

In the morning, you head downstairs and discover that Douglas has made breakfast this time. He's waiting for you at the table, smiling widely. "Hey!" He says. "How're things?"

You shrug, and sit down to eat. He eats too.

"So, think you're gonna find another bounty-hunting target today?" He asks you.

>What do you say?

>You're sure you can figure out SOMETHING you can do with this, though...
Infiltration and/or sex at some point, I'm sure.

...you might try for round two of pranking Douglas, but, love god. Reasonable odds that wouldn't even bother him.

>>What do you say?
I was thinking about doing some shopping, actually. Since I have money now.

What about you? What do you normally do all day when you're not mentoring slash corrupting innocent little devils?

>>736863
We should at least look at the job listings. Maybe we can get at something that's more of a long con.

...hey how do we train to have more HP etc?

Oh also how much is the rent here?

>>736864
He shrugs when you ask him what he does all day. "Eh, I just finished up my latest album. So I'm relatively free? Usually I browse the internet a lot. Sometimes it's to look for new jobs and sometimes it's recreational."

He thinks. "And reading. And video games. At night I go to clubs sometimes... I dunno, I'm actually relatively boring, to be honest with you." He shrugs and smiles.

You nod. Well, at least you're gonna get some shopping done today, right?

Breakfast finishes, and Douglas puts the plates in the sink. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you later, then?"

>What do you do?

>>736876
Yeah. Tell him you'll be back after you do some shopping, then you want to try out some video games. And more sex.

>>736876
Yeah, we'll hang out later. I don't think I emasculated you nearly enough to drag you along as a shopping slave.

>shopping! Cell phone, heat lamp, maybe some different clothes. Could use pockets as a naga, or just the ability to dress up or down for jobs and such.

>>736888
He smiles when you tell him this. "Looking forward to it."

>>736893
You head out and do some shopping, grabbing yourself a cell phone and a heat lamp for personal use. You also purchase some clothing, both so you can dress in different ways depending on the job, and judging from the leather jacket you picked up, so you can have a few pockets on hand while you're in Naga form.

Anything else you think you'd like to buy, while you're out? You have enough money for something relatively inexpensive...

Get some tunes

>>737026
Mini-flashlight. Multitool.

>>737026
set aside some money specifically for things you may need for your next bounty. it would suck to take a job when you can't afford to cover fee or taxi fare etc.

>>737156
You purchase a single mini-flashlight, which, with how cheap it is, barely puts a dent in your funds at all.

>>737248
You decide to set the rest aside for funds you may need for any other missions you go on. With that, you're pretty much done shopping for the day. Do you want to head home? Or do you have something else in mind?

>What do you do?

What time is it?

Doesn't feel worth starting a new bounty before dropping our stuff off. Not sure I want to follow up with Sarah just yet either.

That leaves. Hmmm. Maybe could grab a bite to eat. Or explore a little, it's not like you know much about your new hometown.

Go look at the bounties but don't accept any yet.

Maybe check a paper or something? Interesting to see if your antics at the church show up.

>>737318
Oh, good idea!

>>737318
You decide to grab a newspaper and see if anything interesting's popped up. Interestingly, it seems your assassination of The Seraph did make the front page, though you're credited as a "Licensed Bounty Hunter" only. Well, that's something.

>>737264
You decide that while you're out, you might as well explore a bit. I mean, you don't know an awful lot about this place.

From what you can tell, the economy of this place revolves quite a bit around Monster Hunters. Several supply stores and weapon shops are visible as you go. Several buildings seem fortified for Monster Attacks, and as you get to the edge of the city you notice what seem to be soldiers on patrol.

You don't see an awful lot more of interest, besides what seems to be a rather large arcade. And that draws your eye more due to the sheer amount of light and sound going on there than anything.

Any other ideas you had? Or do you just wanna get home?

>What do you do?

>weapon shops
Well, that's one kind you really don't need, at least. Unless you need something purpose-specific at some point, like for a trap, or if you need to be seen with non- magic, appears from nowhere, and returns to your hands weapons by someone who's devil-savy.

>the economy of this place revolves quite a bit around Monster Hunters
Maybe you should see what the secondhand market for relics looks like. They gave us the feather back after authenticating it, right? Maybe you could sell it, or it's a crafting material or such?

>>737489
Did our front-page mention include any kind of description? Hard to do our job if word gets around.

>>737531
The paper mentioned a "Naga Licensed Bounty Hunter". You haven't seen an awful lot of Naga around, so you're holding out hope.

>>737500
There does seem to be a relic shop nearby. You head in and show them the feather.

The woman at the counter examines the feather, and nods. "Yup. Genuine Seraph feather. Kinda useless on its own, but if you make them into an outfit, it's purported to make you look more attractive..."

She offers you some money for the feather. Not a ton, but from what you understand, the feather isn't that valuable. At the very least, though, it'll be a good addition to the "rainy day" fund you're currently setting up...

>What do you do?

>>737550
More attractive could help but it'd also be really obvious that it's a seraph feather outfit. Sell that thing.

Are there any relics in here that aid in stealth?

>>737550
We're a bit new to this, and we didn't think to ask before we left home this morning. Step outside for a minute, give Douglas a call, confirm that this seems reasonable and there isn't some amazing use for a Seraph feather or reason to keep it. If there isn't, take the deal.

>>737552
I think it'd be fairly obvious if seraph feathers are valuable by looking at the listed price to buy one at this shop. It's not like we're dealing with unique/rare items here.

Plus, I don't think we'd expect to find any bounties available that have super rare relics. Those would get snapped up by experienced hunters.

>>737550
It's a bounty Douglas felt fine offering to a newbie (even if we are a devil), and apparently you have to farm a bunch of them to craft clothes that give a cha bonus. I doubt it's worth a ton.

Pawn away.

>>737551
You sell the fabric, and discover only one item that you figure could aid in Stealth, though the woman at the counter assures you they craft or import new items all the time.

DEATH SLOT CLOAK FABRIC ROSE- This fabric rose, lovingly crafted from the black remnants of a Death Slot's robe, can temporarily make one who wears it on their lapel invisible to cameras. Useful for those targeting "artifical" Monsters!

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem you can afford it just yet. You figure you could after about ONE MORE mission. Do you ask for them to set aside the CLOAK FABRIC ROSE?

>What do you do?

>>737711
That sounds really useful, and we can hide it when we're not using it. Not that we would use it to sneak past security cameras. That would be something a criminal does and not a legitimate bounty hunter. Yep. Totally doing that. I mean not doing that.

Ask them to set it aside, then go home. We can pick up a bounty tomorrow.

>Do you ask for them to set aside the CLOAK FABRIC ROSE?
We could, but unless setting aside / layaway is a service they offered for customers already, we may be out of luck. Our weakness is persuading people to do things.

>>737737
Thankfully, the store totally lets you reserve Relics! Unfortunately, they only do it for a day. So if you're going to get a bounty tomorrow, you'd have to get it done that day AND purchase the Rose.

You still ask for them to set aside the Rose anyways. They gladly do so, though they seem to have to think it over, first.

You then head home, whistling a tune to yourself, which is surprisingly difficult due to your fangs.

When you get home, Douglas is sitting on the couch, playing what looks to be a puzzle game. It's basically just lining up colored squares with other colored squares.

He glances over at you when you slither in. "Hey! I see you're back. Find everything you needed?"

A chiptune version of some classical song you've never heard before beeps and boops softly.

>What do you do?

"yep. but now it is time for fooding up."

head directly to the kitchen, and make yourself a batch of dark chocolate and macadamia nut cookies.
also make a plain cookie for douglas, so as not to poison him with methylxanthines nor give him hypothermia from the nuts.

Get a food, the commence with the stated plan of video games then sex.

Since you are a snake, find something big and act like you are going to swallow it whole. The say just kidding and eat something normal sized and eat it normally.

>>738114
You inform him everything went perfectly, and now you're grabbing some lunch.

You check the fridge, and notice what seems to be half of a leftover pizza. You pull it out. Douglas enters the kitchen and raises an eyebrow. "You, uh, planning on sharing?" He asks.

You tell him no, and raise it to your mouth, opening as wide as you can... And then promptly inform Douglas that you're fucking with him, and he can totally have some if he wants.

He looks a bit relieved that you weren't going to do something quite so Monstrous in front of him.

After you heat up the pizza and eat, the two of you decide to waste some time on video games, like you said you were going to.

Douglas decides to just kinda cycle through games to figure out what you like, considering it's the early afternoon and neither of you really planned on doing that much. So the two of you just enjoy a lazy afternoon of playing video games together.

You're not entirely sure how long this goes on for, but at some point you notice that Douglas seems to be getting closer to you. This is probably intentional.

>What do you do?

>>738123
Wrap him up in your tail.

Pretend to be oblivious to what he's doing in order to tease him a bit.

>>738136
You glance over and give him an innocent smile. You inquire if he's trying to watch your button inputs or something, and inform him there's no shame in getting his ass kicked at Monster Duel 4 by someone who's never played it before.

He grins. "Oh, what, so you're gonna play all innocent?"

His grin turns to a smirk, and a hand suddenly moves to begin going up your shirt. "I like it..."

>What do you do?

>what do
Hmmm. Well if he likes that... maybe continue trying to play innocent until there's no room left to hold onto the illusion?

Mess with him with your tail while keeping up the act.

>>738198
You continue your innocent smile, and shift your tail so that the very tip begins circling around his crotch. You blush (which doesn't take much effort) and ask Douglas what he's doing as he cups one of your breasts in his hand.

"I think you know damn well..." He murmurs into your ear, before beginning to roughly grope you. You moan out, and try to take advantage of your relative inexperience with sex to come off like a clueless virgin.

"That's right... doesn't that feel good?" He whispers into your ear, still groping and kneading at the soft, yielding flesh. "Yknow, last night was just the tip of the iceberg... I could show you so much more..."

You're rapidly losing track of your faculties as Douglas feels you up, his other arm holding you close. He kisses your neck, occasionally nipping at it or licking it.

"Tell me what you want..."

>What do you say?

>>738228
Whissper: "Make me scream."

>>738228
Whisper "the game"
and then flee at top speed.

>>738406
He grins and gives your chest one last rough squeeze. "Oh, that can definitely be arranged..." He suddenly moves you so you're on your back, the god looming over you. He has a predatory grin on his face, and somehow that just makes the whole thing even more arousing.

He pulls off your shirt and continues groping you with one hand, while the other reaches down and begins teasing your slit. He must be using magic or god powers or something, because his touch is electrifying and you feel your body warming up under him.

When he pushes a finger into you, you go off right then and there. Yup, he's definitely using god shit, but you don't care because you feel so good and you literally shout in pleasure from his touch.

He smirks down at you, and just keeps going. At some point he adds another finger and that just drives you even more wild. It goes on like this for roughly an hour, and you wind up orgasming again and again from it.

When he finally stops, pulling his fingers from your depths and licking your arousal from them when he's sure you're watching, you're pretty much just a puddle of hormones and contentment. He sits back down and just smirks at you. "So, how was that?"

You can't help but notice that even though he's visibly hard, he's made no moves to do anything about it...

>What do you do?

>>739099
Incredible.

Now how about we mess with him a bit. Ride him and use Your Senses Betray You whenever he gets close to orgasm.

>"So, how was that?"
Reply with happy sounding incoherent mumbling.

Man, it's not fair, love gods get the best powers.

>You can't help but notice that even though he's visibly hard, he's made no moves to do anything about it...
Reach out and start idly stroking it? Maybe you can work up to oral, but you're kind of melting at the moment.

>>739169
Oh yeah maybe a naga blowjob would be a better plan considering how exhausted Erim must be.

>>739169
You let out a vaguely affirmative bit of babble when he asks you how it was, and he smirks down at you. "Well, I'm glad you liked it." He says, smirking.

Figuring Douglas deserves a bit of fun too, you reach over and begin stroking his member through his pants. He gasps softly, but quickly regains his composure. "Heh. Just couldn't stay away, huh?"

He pulls down the front of his pants to expose himself, and you begin softly stroking him. You're way too out of it to focus too hard, but judging from the way he begins panting and the way it twitches in your grip, he's definitely enjoying it.

You spend a while doing this, until your senses return enough that you can lean over and position your head over his crotch.

"Oh, you're gonna try that?" He asks, actually looking a bit excited. "Well, if you really want to... Just do your best, alright?"

You nod, and gently run your tongue over the pole of flesh. It tastes a bit salty, and significantly more than a bit musky. You just lick him for a while, eliciting some groans and increasing the pace of Douglas' panting.

When you finally take him into your mouth, carefully guiding his length between your fangs, he lets out a long, deep moan. "Ah, fuck... That's nice..." He says, putting a hand on the back of your head. He makes no moves to guide you, though.

You begin slowly bobbing your head up and down on top of him. It's a little difficult, and you wind up grazing it with the side of your fangs more than once, but eventually you manage to figure out a way to do it that seems to work for both of you.

After a while of this, Douglas grips your hair gently and lets out a grunt. "Ngh... I-I'm close, babe..."

This encourages you to pick up the pace, and with a surprisingly canine whine Douglas goes off in your mouth. The thick fluid fills your mouth, and you're once again sure that Love Gods get the best powers because it literally tastes sweet. You gladly swallow it all down, and only pull away when he's done.

Douglas is currently leaning back against the couch, eyes shut and tongue dangling from his mouth. "Oh, shit... That was amazing..."

>What do you do?

>Oh, shit... That was amazing...
I think he managed to be more so, for his part.

Right, how late is it? At some point we'll need (well, want) to sleep (and try out the heat lamp in snake form). Tomorrow we probably want to pick up another bounty.

>>739550
You inform Douglas that all things considered, he was probably way better than you.

"Heh, well, I have an unfair advantage." He admits, grinning.

At this point, it's late enough that you could probably go to bed if you wanted. Douglas doesn't seem to be heading to bed, but according to him he usually stays up later when he's not working.

You could go to sleep, or you could spend more time with Douglas (presumably in a non-sexy fashion), or maybe work on your shape-shifting. Or something else, if you can think of it.

>What do you do?

Movie/game night?

How badly did the puzzle game fare while the two of your were fooling around?

I have no objection to hanging out with him a little longer, and/or experimenting with shape shifting, but at some point we have to see if sleeping under the heat lamp in snake form is good.

I believe the plan was to sleep under the heat lamp.

The Archivist !0iuTMXQYY. 2016/08/18(Thu)06:36 No. 743063 ID: ea2bfa
File 147152737201.png - (5.06KB , 1000x1000 , Babel.png )

You decide now's as good a time as any to hit the hay. You bid Douglas good night, and then head to your room, plugging in the heat lamp and shifting into snake form to lie underneath it.

You quickly discover that this is super comfortable. Like, ridiculously so. Wow, you had no idea something could be this comfortable. You quickly fall asleep like this, and as you sleep, you dream...

It's dark. Extremely so. You can't see anything at all, and that is... more than a little worrying. The air smells like old paper, and you can hear something rustling in the darkness.

Suddenly, two large eyes open in the darkness, one green, one red. They eye you suspiciously, and then a voice speaks up. It is deep and surprisingly soothing, and there's some bit of it that sounds oddly familiar.

"Oh. I sssuppossse you weren't a hallucination after all. Sssilly me, I guesss..."

>What do you do?

>>743063
Hello again Babel. Did you find that book?

>>743063
Hello, Babel. How are you?

>>743103
"Oh, yesss." Babel says. "Jussst asssk me about the book. Disssappear for centuriesss and not even a "Sssorry, I wasss getting Ssstarbucksss", which, might I add, isss not even a thing that exissstsss on thisss planet, but I know of through all eating tomesss."

He sighs. "I apologize, friend. It hasss been a long time. My dutiesss are lengthy and endlesss."

>>743109
"...thank you. I'm fine, I sssuppossse. Ssstill eating booksss, ssstill working. I got a year off lassst decade, which wasss nice. I learned how to play golf and dissscovered the joysss of mixed drinksss. Namely, mixed with binding glue and ink." He chuckles softly at his little joke. "Currently, you and I are within the Vault. Where the Queen'sss mossst valuable tomesss lie. Technically, you aren't sssupposssed to be here without permission. But I feel like letting thisss one ssslide." He smiles in the darkness. "But I do have your book, if you'd like."

>>743650
Centuries?!?! But...h-how?! It's only been a few days for me! I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen! I guess this means time passes faster for you then it does for me.

>Disssappear for centuriesss and not even a "Sssorry, I wasss getting Ssstarbucksss"
Sorry, it wasn't centuries for me. I'm not even centuries old! I don't really know what controls when or how I get here.

>But I do have your book, if you'd like.
Seems a shame to spend what little time we have to hang out ignoring you for reading, when I don't know how long it'll take me to get back again. Is this the kind of library people can borrow books from? ...although if I disappear for centuries again, I'd have one hell of a late fee waiting for me.

>>743650
Ask him the current date. That'll give us an idea of how long he can expect to wait for us to pick up the book. Also confirm that you've only met once before. Ask if he can read in this darkness. Maybe he can read some of the book to you, if we can't find anything to talk about?

...I wonder if you can control your next dream to talk to Babel earlier? Instead of centuries later, see if you can project to like, a year after your first visit. Then we'll confirm we can change the past and your dreams aren't tied to fate or whatever.
Unless these dreams have nothing to do with reality, I guess.

>>743708
You ask him the current date, and he considers it for a moment.

"The Year Of The Queen 1958. In The Normal World, thisss roughly transsslatesss to the Year 1506."

...you come from the year 2010. This is more than a little disconcerting.

>>743684
He frowns, and seems to be considering something. "Well, the Wild Place isss ssstrange. Who knowsss, perhapsss you sssimply wandered into a portal formed by sssome long-dead visssitor to the library? You never know. It'sss alright, I figured you didn't do it intentionally. I wasss... jussst a bit bitter, admittedly."

>>743700
You admit that you're not entirely sure what brings you to or from the Library, and he nods. Then, you ask him if you could potentially check out the book for later perusal, rather than just ignoring him.

"Of courssse. Knowledge isss power, but thisss would be a pretty terrible library if I jussst hoarded everything for myssself. Take asss long asss you need, no late feesss here."

You got: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE COMMON DEVIL (Volumes 1-5, Rare Combined Edition).

He considers you for a moment. "Ssso. Firssst off, would you like me to turn the lightsss on? And sssecond, isss there anything you'd like to dissscusss while you're here? I've been itching for sssome conversssation."

>>749048
Well, first of all, I want to correct you. I'm from the year 2010 and I have no idea how I could've wandered through a portal when all I did was lie down in my bed and go to sleep!

>Turn lights on?
Yes, please. I want to give you a hug, but I can't see where you are.

>Topic of conversation.
Well, after I left last time, I woke up in bed and I wanted to find out more about you, and maybe find a way to meet you without having to go to sleep, so I asked someone if there knew you and they said they knew you, but they never told me how to meet you. But, they said something that really bugged me. They said, "I hear Babel used to be a pretty sweet kid..." and that made me worried that something happened to you. I wanted to come back to check on you, but as you can tell I had no idea how to do that and I came here on complete accident! Guess if I want to see you, I'll just have to go to sleep, hopefully that's how it works. I'm just glad I finally found a way to get here, so that I can finally check on you! I was really worried after what that guy said about you.

>...you come from the year 2010. This is more than a little disconcerting.
This either shows time is not consistent between planes, or that time means very little to dream vision quests. It's not like you asked Fool the date before you left.

>would you like me to turn the lightsss on?
I don't mind. Hmm. If you turn on the lights in a dream, do you wake up?

>conversation
I'm pretty sure I got here through a dream. Which means I'm somehow projecting (or being projected) here. Unless we're both dreaming and it's a shared dream. Are you sure you're awake?

How are you doing? I mean, all I've done since we last met was find myself a place to stay and a job. You must have gotten a lot more done.

>>749072
You inform Babel that you may or may not be dreaming right now. You ask if he's sure he's awake right now.

Babel pauses, and there's a loud thud, and then several smaller thuds. "Nope. Jussst bashed myssself headlong into a shelf. I'm in incredible pain, but ssstill awake."

You decide to inquire as to how he's been!

"Fine enough, I sssuppossse. I've only got a little bit more to eat my way through, and then it'll be time to hunker down and ssstart replicating the booksss. At leassst you can actually sssee the shelvesss now, and you don't have to fight ssstrange paper and leather golemsss in order to navigate the library."

He pauses. "Though perhapsss I'll bring one or two of them back. They had their own unique charm to them."

>>749068
You inform him that you'd greatly appreciate it if he turned on the lights. "Of courssse. One sssecond."

There's a clicking noise, and large lights in the ceiling activate. You blink as your vision goes white, though eventually you can see normally.

As opposed to the chaotic jumble of paper and ink you've seen previously, The Vault is almost unnaturally orderly and clean. Books sit behind glass display cases, with titles like "Malleus Maleficarum: Unabridged Edition" and "A Dissertation On The Nature Of Emotion, With Foreword By Tarot Entity #15."

Babel is sitting, coiled around a case in the center of a room. He's grown huge since you last saw him, to the point that he's wider than you are tall. He gazes down at you, his two mismatched eyes blinking lazily.

You give him a hug, and he seems surprised. "Oh. I guesss you misssed me too? Interesssting." He coils around you in turn, giving you a light squeeze before letting you go.

You inform him that apparently, a friend said he "used to be" nice. He frowns.

"I think, perhapsss, your friend isssn't very well informed. I am no lesss sssweet than I wasss before. Perhapsss jaded by my ssstudiesss... but I'd like to imagine I'm nice enough."

He frowns. "Though perhapsss... that won't lassst forever..."

>What do you do?

>>749076
Wow, you're big.

>won't be nice forever
Well, we're shaped by our experiences, and by what we know, but at the end of the day, we're who we decide to be. We're more than our natures, or the sum of our parts. At least, I hope so. Don't let maybes from a dream-future get you down.

>He's grown huge since you last saw him, to the point that he's wider than you are tall.
Don't make any fat jokes! That would be incredibly rude!

>He frowns. "Though perhapsss... that won't lassst forever..."
Well, since I'm from 2010, which would be the future for you, I guess it didn't last forever. But, my friend didn't say you were evil or mean or anything like that! Maybe you're just grumpy or bored? Or maybe lonely?

.....if I can find a way to visit you more often, without me missing for a few centuries for you when it's only been a few days for me, then I'll come back and hopefully it'll only have been a few days for you as well! But if that doesn't work, then I'll try to find a way to visit you in my time! And.....even though I didn't do it on purpose, I still feel really bad for doing that to you.
*give Babel another hug*

>>749077
You inform Babel that he is much bigger than you recall him being, and he smiles. "You tend to gain sssome sssize when you've been gorging yourssself on booksss. I've come to accept it. Though sssoon I may have a new form altogether..."

You inform him you're sure he'll be fine, and remain more or less the same. He frowns at you.

"No, lisssten... you sssee thessse booksss? The onesss in glasss casssesss desssigned to, among other thingsss, sssummon guardsss, explode violently, and then reform on the other ssside of the Wild Place when anyone other than The Queen or I tampers with them? Thessse are sssome of the mossst dangerousss, mossst dark magic filled booksss in the universsse... and I have to devour them, and gain their knowledge."

He takes a deep breath. "I don't know what that knowledge will do to me... but I won't be the sssame when it'sss over."

>>749078
You inform him that, apparently, you come from the future, and you haven't neccessarily heard he's evil or anything, so maybe there's a chance! You then let him know you'll try to figure out a way that you can arrive without huge time gaps or something!

And then you give him another hug. He closes his eyes and coils around you in the snake equivalent of a hug and nods. "Thank you. I'll try to keep my head, if only ssso I don't ssscare you off. You're probably one of my main sssourcesss of sssocial interaction at thisss point. I'd hate to lossse you."

He lets you go, and looks a bit curious. "Ssso apparently I'm ssstill around after 500 or ssso yearsss... ssso I guesss Devilsss are too, if you want to know about them... are they ssstill causssing trouble? I've heard rumblingsss about sssome new "leader" among them, called "The Fool'sss Kingdom". Doesss that ever pan out?"

>What do you do?

>>749079
Devils are still around, but if they have a whole kingdom, you've never heard of it. Although you are pretty new. Which makes you a pretty lame time traveller, you don't know enough secrets to do anything with it. (Maybe we should try going to sleep holding a book published in the future next time).

I mean, devils will still be around as long as gods with issues are, right?

>only social interaction
What, no one else vists this library? All this information and there aren't any monsters who need your expertise? It can't all be royal secrets, can it?

>You're probably one of my main sssourcesss of sssocial interaction at thisss point. I'd hate to lossse you.
Ssstop breaking my heart, you poor lonely thing! You're going to make me flood the Vault with how much I'm going to end up crying! Why doesssn't anyone elssse visssit you?! No one dessservesss to be thisss lonely! *sniff* Darn it, I'm ssso upssset that I've lossst control of my sssnake tongue. *sniff*

>>749079
Tell him you don't really know that much, but you did run into a powerful devil who called himself Fool. That's one of the reasons why you wanted to read that book on devils. But Fool didn't seem like such a bad person. Maybe he mellowed out?

>>749084
"The library isss temporarily closssed until I finish "renovationsss". Which, asss you can plainly sssee, hasss taken sssome time. And any vacationsss I receive are few and far between."

You inform him about how Devils are still around, but don't have a kingdom to speak of? Babel shakes his head. "No, child, The Fool'sss Kingdom. That'sss hisss name. Big, elaborate title that doesssn't really explain anything."

Oooohhhh.

>>749103
You inform him you know of Fool, but not anyone named "Fool's Kingdom". He nods. "Well, perhapsss he sssimply changed hisss name. Or it could be a new entity altogether? Regardlesss, not my problem."

He sighs. "If he really hasss mellowed out... well, that could be good. The way I hear it, Fool'sss Kingdom isss sssugesssting an attack on The Queen's Castle. Which will only end in tearsss and blood for the Devilsss. Even if the guardsss weren't competent, The Handmaiden of thisss particular point in time isss the bessst yet. You couldn't pay me to fight her."

>What do you do?

>>749119
Hmmmm. Okay, let's lay of the brooding over future/past maybe conflicts. That's no fun and not getting us anywhere!

We should do something fun. You haven't had a break for ages, and brooding isn't good for anyone.

Ask what the Handmaiden is like.

Actually, wait. It looks like the next time you and Babel will meet, he'll be in less of a good mood. So... in the interests of full disclosure it might be best to tell him you're a (very young) devil. He'll be less angry if that comes out now, instead of when he's a grump.

>>749231
"In a word? Crazy. In two words? Very crazy. She'sss the newessst one, after the old Handmaid upgraded to Wetnurssse ssstatusss. Of courssse, perhapsss asss a sssign sssomething'sss very wrong in the world, she apparently hasss accesss to LUMBERJACK EQUIPMENT asss her weapon of choice. I'm not even kidding, she hasss an outright woodchopping axe asss her weapon."

He pauses. "If you're going to be here a while, I sssuppossse I could introduce you. I believe now isss one of her breaksss. She'll be in the armory, mossst likely. Chopping away at that training dummy she lovesss ssso much..."

>What do you do?

>>749536
>If you're going to be here a while
No idea how dream time works. I think this is already longer than last time, and so far I feel fine.

>I sssuppossse I could introduce you
Um. Do you think introducing me to crazy people is a good idea? Aren't I technically an intruder? Although I suppose she is on break...

Well if you think it'll be okay, I don't have a problem being shown off to your coworkers. You can surprise them with your social life.

(This is probably a dumb idea, but high ranking monsters operating under the false assumption we're centuries old in the present day, and we have connections to Babel has to be something we can exploit to our advantage).

>>749587
"Yesss, I sssuppossse you are technically an intruder. But I alssso sssuppossse I can lie through my fangsss and tell them you're my guessst. There are roughly millionsss of sssecret entrancesss into the cassstle, nobody will look at me sssidewaysss for having an unexpected guessst."

You nod. Sounds simple enough. You inquire about that whole "Crazy" thing, though.

"...perhapsss I have sssome judgementsss about the child I need to get over. She isss not crazy. Sssimply... ssspirited about her job. Part of which involvesss being the Queen'sss main guardian. Come with me, I'll bring you to her."

You follow him through the library, which actually looks like a library now! You notice that the shelves are empty though. Or at least, the parts you can see, considering the shelves tower so high you can't see the tops.

Eventually, he leads you out of a set of double doors. You navigate through a few luxuriously appointed hallways and chambers before arriving in front of a massive door seemingly made of iron. Babel reaches forward and bumps his head into the door, once, and it opens slowly.

Inside, you can hear the noises of a young woman grunting and screaming in rage accompanied by the sounds of metal clashing and wood being hacked away at. The two of you reach a seeming training area, where the same young woman is currently hacking away at an armor clad training dummy with a lumber axe as tall as she is. She turns to look at you as you both enter.

She is clad in a long skirt and a white blouse, though the blouse is currently soaked through with sweat, to the point you can see through it to what look like ribbons binding down her chest. Her hair is black and long, and despite the sweat covering her her makeup is absolutely impeccable.

She looks you both over and nods once. "Babel. Babel's apparent friend. Hope you don't mind if I talk while I chop this thing to bits."

She screams and chops off the dummy's head, sending it sailing over to your feet. The head is crudely painted to look like a skull, and a wooden crown is sewn onto its head. It glares up at you with two eyes that don't point in the same direction.

"Yesss, Handmaiden. I jussst took a break from my work to sssee how you were doing, and introduce you to a friend of mine."

She nods, cleaving the dummy in half with one mighty swing, to the point of even splitting its breastplate into two halves. "Ah. Nice to meet you, then, newbie. Mind if I ask your name, or are you the sort who prefers going anonymous?"

>What do you do?

>She screams and chops off the dummy's head, sending it sailing over to your feet.
>over to your feet.
>your feet.
Wait, what feet? I thought we were in our naga form?

>Mind if I ask your name, or are you the sort who prefers going anonymous?
"H-hey! I am neither a ninny nor am I mouse! I am quite obviously a snake! Anyways, my name is Snikt."

(A reminder, Snikt is what we said our name was when we first met Babel. So that is the name we should introduce ourselves with.)

>Hope you don't mind if I talk while I chop this thing to bits.
*Poke the head with tail and/or toe* At this pace it doesn't look like that will keep you busy much longer.

>(A reminder, Snikt is what we said our name was when we first met Babel. So that is the name we should introduce ourselves with.)
I thought that immediately got retconned? Although I suppose it's ambiguous if the answer Erim gave was changed.

>Mind if I ask your name, or are you the sort who prefers going anonymous?
A time-travel reputation gambit doesn't really play as well if we don't give her your name. We should introduce ourselves, unless we did give Babel a false name, in which case we sort of have to follow suit since we're right in front of him.

>I am neither a ninny nor am I mouse! I am quite obviously a snake!
Pfff. Took me a minute to recognize the pun, but that's good.

You prod the dummy's head with the tip of your tail and inform Handmaiden that you don't think she'll be busy for long.

She smirks, and gives another hard swing, cleaving the already cut-in-half dummy into quarters. "Nah, probably not. Now, you gonna give me a name?"

You inform her of your name, Erim.

"Huh, neat. Wait, hold up." She focuses, and suddenly she's holding an absolutely huge, revving chainsaw. She brings it down onto the entirely metal base of the dummy, and slashes it to the point it can't even stay up.

She finally turns to you. "Yeah, nice to meet you, Erim." The chainsaw transforms back into an axe, which transforms into a set of ribbons, which coil themselves tightly around her torso, leaving her midriff exposed as the blouse disappears.

"I'm The Handmaiden. Servant, Guardian, and Confidante of The Queen." She extends a hand. "Any particular reason you wanted to show up, or did Babel just feel like showing off?"

Interesting that you've now met two high ranking monsters, and neither has recognized you for what you are. (Or if they do, haven't called you on it). Nor have you set off any kine of ward or alarm traveling the palace. Earlier conversation would support Babel not being able to tell, but the head guardian of the place would be a lot more likely to have some kind of sensory ability. Either they don't have an easy way to detect devils, or she's choosing to ignore it (due to Babel's escort, curiosity, or judging you too weak to be a threat).

>"Any particular reason you wanted to show up, or did Babel just feel like showing off?"
The latter, I think. I was just visiting a friend, although my comings and goings are a little mysterious even to myself. I haven't really got the control I would over that trick yet.