asgardmeridiem | Occlumency - Chapter 1 (Closed)

Yukari got to the clinic a few minutes before the appointment -- getting there early might give her some time to prepare and practice her Charm again. Not that that was the major subject here, but it might as well be seen if it could help her defend, since it was the major defense mechanism she really had. Archery of all things would be one of the worst against body control.

She opened the door tentatively, looking in. There she was.

"Hey, Samantha," she said with a little wave.

Yifei got the text from Samantha (it was quite the surprise to wake up to from a nap, really) and was on her way over! Might as well since she wasn't being called in for any of her jobs; something to keep her busy was always welcomed. Never had she been to a clinic in Asgard before--well, actually, she never had a reason nor taken it into account with the hospital that presented itself as Sigyn's landmark. With long strides, she easily arrived after Yukari... At least a couple of minutes after. Record timing, don't you think? With a large grin, she tilted her upper torso to the side so she could have a look at Samantha while being behind Yukari, waving a bit.

"Hey from me, too!" Though she didn't even know the girl in front of her, she obviously didn't mind using her as a meat shield for the moment.

Samantha nodded to the two of them. This was actually a first physical meeting for both girls. Definitely not her original plan for the day, but in the end it wasn't such a bad thing, since she was going to try and make herself at least a little useful. She motioned towards a pair of chairs just to the other side of the counter, considering in the back of her mind almost exactly what Yukari was thinking about. It would be good to verify if other powers worked while under the influence.

"Hello to the two of you," she said with a wooden grin. "Before we get started, Yukari this is Yifei, Yifei, Yukari. Yifei's here to make sure things don't get out of hand... but if we end up testing Charm, be careful what you push me to do. Anything like what we've talked about might wake 'her' up."

Yukari was mildly disconcerted at some other girl popping up behind her, but the introduction was swift enough. She'd seen that girl around at some point anyway, hadn't she...? Yeah, Yifei, that was right -- she'd seen a network post of some kind.

"Uh, nice to meet you, Yifei-san," she said, a touch absently. She was looking both around the room and at the two other girls. People always looked a little different in person than in video, even. Plus, well, she was wondering about how Charm might mix poorly with that thing, too.

"And believe me, I won't push you to do anything weird," she added after a half a second. There was even another girl there -- too embarrassing. As if there needed to be any other reason not to try anything excessive on a potential succubus.

She closed her eyes in order to avoid one of them twitching towards the -san suffix. It would be much better if she kept quiet! That was pretty easy. With a nod, she grinned toward Yukari, "It's nice to meet you as well."

While the other two insinuate (though it was literal in every sense) the strangest and awkward of things about the subject, she slid onto the seats that were pointed out for them. Her eyes wandered around the clinic much like Yukari's, curious about this her new surroundings. Meeting new people, even those over the network in person, had never been a problem for her at all. She did not hold enough interest to the point where it would burden her with anxiety--but this was a different situation.

She might as well join in the conversation, right? "Are we going to have a safeword, too?"

Laughing a bit to herself, she crossed her legs with while arms folded in front of her chest. This would surely be interesting.

She nodded. "Red. I'm going to be doing what Conan did, Yukari, when we tested this the other day," she said, walking around and hopping up on the counter. She had to clean it later anyway. The whole room had a strong 'herbal' scent, which was oddly reminiscent of walking into a fine Italian establishment on speed. It was enough to suppress her normal hint of sulfur, something she liked. When she was seated, what she considered business attire was obvious: Blouse, khakis and loafers with a belt. Her tail flopped lazily on the counter, clearly bored with the whole thing.

"I won't have any control over your mouth, even if I find I can control everything else. I'm going to just make you do simple things, like a waltz, nothing flashy. I want you to focus your energy while I do this on trying to stop something, anything in what I'm telling you to do. Does that make sense?"

Yukari glanced over at Yifei sharply for a second. No misinterpretations--! But she didn't seem to be really laughing seriously at them (whatever that means). It was a real danger, after all, and she supposed they all knew it.

This was definitely going to be a weird sensation, whatever it was, but -- it was definitely better to try it now than have it happen later. She nodded.

"A waltz?" She laughed a little bit, smoothing her hands out on her skirt. "I guess I can manage that. With your help." But anyway. Nod. "I'm ready."

She took a deep breath or two first, though. Just in case.

She nodded and proceeded to reach out with her sensations, her fingers laid out before her. She almost looked like a puppeteer with imaginary strings leading towards Yukari's body. Her control was considerably greater than it had been before, making it easier to reach out to the various parts of Yukari's frame. She wasn't sure just how weak-willed or strong-willed the girl was, but she made an effort to take control of as much as she could while leaving her able to speak.

The first move was simple, focus on the leading hand and try to get it to rise.

Yukari had closed her eyes, focusing, or trying to, entirely on whatever small sensation would tip her off first. It was her hand--it was easy to recognize it as soon as it started moving--an eerie feeling, not quite like someone was lifting it but rather like her arm had suddenly divorced its neural connection with her brain, and she found it hard to focus at all in the way that had seemed intuitive and simple enough a moment ago.

Not much resistance yet, then -- she tried to push her hand down again, mentally, in the way she normally would, but it wasn't quite so easy, it seemed, and she was sure that that wasn't the end of it. Still. She was safe, so ... why not?

Samantha felt herself taking control of the hand and attempted to extend the control from all along the arm to the rest of Yukari's body. Depending on how strong willed she was, it could be difficult or nearly impossible, as Samantha had only reached the second level so far. However, there was the disturbing sensation that she wasn't entirely in control of her hand.

The temptation lurked there again, but just having Yifei around helped some. It was the knowledge that she was being watched, kept 'legit' that helped for the moment. She grunted and moved her fingers, trying to set the girl's feet and begin a waltz with an imaginary partner.

Yukari wasn't perhaps resisting as much as she might have been if this were real -- it was just such a weird feeling, and she almost wanted to see what it was like before trying to break out of it. Yes, it would be weird to doing this stuff in front of a third party, but -- on the other hand, it wasn't as if it was her fault.

So she only offered a certain amount of resistance -- enough to feel like she was slowing down the things her body wants to do, but starting up the dance anyway, for a few moments. Then she gave an earnest try at it, stilling her foot in mid-air,-- no reason it should be moving, she thought to herself, as she aimed to firmly put it down.

As she began to resist more strongly, the dance halted in mid-step. Samantha's lips curled into a smile and she twitched her fingers more fervently. "There we go," she said, focusing her attention strictly on the woman's actions, trying to home in on the errant leg. She took her tone with the motions now, forcing Yukari to push more with her own will. It was like a battle of tug of war, particularly at this level, since controlling all of her took a lot of effort, and may only have been remotely possible because until now her resistance was minimal.

Yukari felt her leg twitching in mid-air, in the weirdest of all ways, having to fight to get it not to. t wasn't the kind of thing she was used to fighting to have to do, for sure, and that was probably an advantage for Samantha -- if, of course, she was any more experienced with it, which probably she wasn't. In any case, the next step of the waltz was taken at a decidedly slow and halting tempo. She stepped down with her foot and then kept it there as if it was now finally at rest again. Maybe that was enough?

She was only moderately experienced, having had increasing occasions to practice lately, but not a lot. She focused down on the legs, and Yukari could feel more control in her hands again. Homing inward to focus her will on those limbs, Samantha decided to see if the problem was how much she was trying to control at once.

Just like that, Yukari felt her arms break almost free. She bent one arm, then the other, almost curious to see how they felt without that odd invisible constricting grip.

But then she felt her legs moving again, irresistibly this time--or seemingly so. It was as if she almost didn't feel them moving this time, like they weren't hers. Eyes widening, she pushed down on her left leg with her arms, seeing if that would help any.

The help of her hands created a physical resistance, not unlike pushing against someone else's body, but a curious reality of the use of powers like Body Control was that it was not limited by the usual part of the human mind that held back from pushing too hard. Any reluctance that she had in pushing against her own body would make it that much harder to resist the motion of her legs.

Admittedly, it was still difficult to maintain control. From moment to moment, she could feel Yukari's will interfering. It was also getting harder to keep up as time went on. She wasn't strained yet, but regardless Yukari took effort to keep hold of.

Yukari indeed found that her legs just wouldn't stop. And she was probably more distracted from fighting against her legs in two ways than she would be by one. Closing her eyes and even grunting a little, she stopped struggling with her arms, which were in any case under her control now, and started just focusing on trying to keep her dancing legs still, as still as she could.

The longer that the dance continued, the more that Yukari could feel her legs jerking and twitching. Inch by inch she was making headway. Finally, however, she raised a hand and Yukari could abruptly feel her body completely back under her own control. Samantha was panting and leaning against the counter heavily.

"God... keeping that up is tiring," she whispered.

Yukari stumbled backward as soon as her legs were back in her own control--she'd been pushing against it so hard that when the pressure suddenly gave way, she could only swing around awkwardly. She probably looked stupid in front of this Yifei girl, too, but whatever. Her legs felt leaden, and yet also like they were full of pins and needles-- it was all bizarre, and she, too, was sweating.

"Ugh... You're totally right about that, Samantha," she groaned. "Warn me next you stop?" She laughed a little, wiping her forehead. "Not that I need a next time just yet."

"Will do," she said, taking a rag out and wiping her forehead with it. She was calming down a little bit from before, though she was definitely very tired. She closed her eyes and relaxed slowly. "I'm not sure I could do it again for a little bit as is, so you're safe there."

Yukari took a deep breath herself, sitting down in the nearest convenient location. "Was it as weird for you as it was for me?" she asked, the hint of a vague smile on her face.

"I... feel oily inside when I use it. Every time I use it, even when I have people watching me, it's like there's a part of me that really likes it," she said, shuddering. "It gets worse if there's complete control. Feeling like I have a puppet on strings is really strange. I can almost see through your eyes."

Yukari's expression clouded over at that. "I'm sorry," she said, a little meaninglessly. "I guess it's what you have, though. I mean... Charm is a pretty awkward power in itself to have, too. I guess it's prolly a little bit of the same, but at least I don't have to do the -- controlling business myself, you know?"

She nodded. "Charm would be just as bad for me, worse in a way," she said, shrugging. "Influence is more a succubus' sort of thing than puppetry. But it's still bad either way. You have to be careful how you use that sort of thing for obvious reasons."

"Yeah, Minato-kun said that too..." she mused half to herself. "Social relationships are really important to him." She laughed. "I'm surprised he's not in Freya, at that..."

Well, shouldn't a succubus be, too really...? "Body control is a Hel House power, right?"

Only half, only half, and she didn't like the 'sociable' side of herself. "It is. I got put into Hel's little house of horrors," she said, shrugging. "Minato... I think he and I have met. he's kind of an odd one, if it's the guy I'm thinking of, but not too bad. Just really curious."

Yukari laughed a little. "I guess that sounds kinda like him." She paused; her relationship was really more of a personal thing than something that anyone else needed (or wanted) to hear about, so she left it at that.

"House of horrors... Is it that bad?"

"Hel is associated with death and the dead, with macabre, somber, depressing themes. She's antisocial, and you won't find her doing any posts on the networks. So all of the goths, social misfits, monsters, and those closely tied to death, dying and horror show up there," she said, shrugging and looking away. "The sorts of people you get over there aren't usually the cuddly types."

"Wow, rude..." She had been sitting back and keeping quiet, but quite attentive to the whole conversation (more that she has selective hearing; droning out all the things she didn't find interesting or relevant). Nevertheless, she felt that she had to at least REPRESENT for the saner parts of Hel. Literally none of those things described her at all--she was close to being on the tip top of the pecking order.

In reality, she, too, wondered why she was sorted into Hel house. Was it because her views on many mundane and human things were skewed so drastically after the transfiguring to the upper plane? She was capable of keeping both sides of her being at bay. What death she saw and experienced was no different from anyone else's and in that line of thinking, she felt she was no different from any of the other residents in other houses. But she was sorted here... It really got her to fall into a abyss where she asked herself what was truly depressing?

From her many years of being alive, every single triggering and traumatizing action happened around the world. No one was spared and in the end she felt no pity or sympathy for any soul.

Hmm. She mused to herself as all of things hit her, switching gears between how she feels a person and a deity, eyelids lowering themselves a bit as she gave both of the a half-lidded glance.

"I would say we're more cynical," scratching the side of her head a bit, that was the only thing she could exactly pinpoint as a similarity between many weirdos in Hel.

Then silence followed after.

"But I love cuddles!!"

Just so everyone knows.

"Yeah, forgot the cynicism," she admitted, laughing a bit. "There's always weird ones like this girl who're basically normal around the house. I've got no clue how she ended up there." She jabbed a thumb at Yifei with a shrug.

"Conan's pretty normal too, really," she added. "But there's a lot of strange types, a whole stack of trolls and other trouble makers. It's a weird house. I've been kind of looking forward to living somewhere."

Yukari shrugged. "Compared to a lot of the girls in Freya"--and they almost all were girls--"anyone would seem cynical." She stared over at Yifei for a moment. She was a weirdo all right, in Yukari's humble opinion, though not in the same way that Sam was, or that the "typical" Hel denizen was, either.

"Maybe Yifei over there has a dark secret ya just don't know about," she said, only half-joking, really. "Poison cuddles or something."

For that matter, Conan really didn't make sense there, as she thought about it. Oh well.

"Decided where you're gonna go?"

Poisonous cuddles...? That sounded more like Miriam to her, pulling people into her poisonous bosom. Even the though of it sent chills down her spine for a quick second. Either way, she was sure that she could do a lot better than that if she needed to get rid of someone. Either way, she gave an outward shrug towards that bit and leaned back on her chair since the question wasn't addressed to her.

There was really nothing to hide and she merely stretched her arms up with a small yawn. Continue on!!

"Loki District," she said, nodding. "Best and cheapest housing around. I can afford a two room place without too much effort, so I can just lock it up and make sure to keep everything under wraps."

She glanced over at Yifei and smirked. "she's right though. I'll bet you've got your share of secrets. Everyone does."

"Loki, huh? Downside is that you gotta deal with him being in the district all the time, though, right?"

Yukari shot a slightly questioning glance at Yifei herself, but didn't add to Samantha's comment.

Occlumency - Chapter 1 (Closed)

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gonna go ahead and post

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