The Treatment of Troubled Foreigners in Hanija [21 Nivvem 4385]

[sythyry]

Mirrored from Sythyry.

Jagraton lay flopped back in the cushions of the circular couch in Lady Noshi’s parlor. He was paralyzed, in the sense of having been rendered incapable of moving his body, and his brain buzzed with a great and extensive drunkenness far beyond the three cautious sips of wine he had tasted. He lay in a comfortably relaxed position.

The prince did not notice Jagraton’s incapacitation. Indeed, after a bit of the most casual and insipid repartée, Prince Rastomil and Lady Noshi had removed or opened certain of their garments, and were now shagging — no more dignified term would fit the character of their junction, and even “rutting” might not be utterly inapplicable — quite frantically on the couch. Even drunk, Jagraton found this behavior unexpected, even to the point of being surprising. Perhaps Jagraton remembered the Hanijan laws on the topic, or perhaps he considered the situation in light of the prince’s general preference for privacy and infrequency in his amours. Perhaps, again, the presence of Lady Noshi’s husband (no matter how drugged with that fuming nacreous purple beverage), might have been thought to inhibit such matters. But the lord simply muttered, “That’s how it starts, yes, for me too,” in a very vague voice, to which his wife snapped, “Be quiet, Kethji!”

Despite all these things, inhibitions were desperately lacking.

Or, more specifically, Prince Rastomil’s inhibitions were lacking. The Lady Noshi, while she can hardly be said to be non-receptive — for her entire body was clearly and completely devoted to the task at hand — maintained a certain ironic detachment on her face. She seemed, if anything, to be deep in contemplation of some distant mathematical theorem or abstruse philosophical principle, at which the frenzied rocking of her hips and the occasional orgasm were, at most, a minor distraction — if that.

She almost seemed to be performing some intricate and long-term sorcery, but Jagraton could clearly see that there was no magic at all involved. Not that he was spell-blind! Not a bit of it. He could clearly see the Ruloc Corpador spell that had paralyzed him.

After some time, Lady Noshi turned her head from her efforts with Rastomil. (Rastomil’s stamina, which was ordinarily quite ordinary, was quite infinite this time.) “Kebu! My work is about to get difficult, and I don’t want any interruptions. Please dispose of that bodyguard.”

Kebu, the withered butler, nodded. “Does your porthaceous and umnolent ladyship wish for him to be found ever again?”

“Best if he is not,” said Lady Noshi. Prince Rastomil grunted, though whether in assent, protest, effort, or pleasure, I cannot say.

“I shall render him mortaceous and pulpish,” said Kebu. He took a long and sharp carving knife, and stepped over to the paralyzed bodyguard.

I think I must do something about this, said Jagratonl. He was more of a warrior than a mage, but knew some magic. Not enough to fight off a butler, especially one who seemed quite experienced in wickedness, but enough to escape. [Bard notes that spellcasting on the World Tree does not actually require speech or movement, though it is easier that way and not everyone seems quite aware that it does not. -bb] The prince seems to be safe enough. Indeed, his current course of blatant adultery is practically obedience to his duty. I am afraid that flight, rather than active defense, is the best course of action for me. It will not look well on my report. Still, staying here and being killed by a carving knife would not look well on my grave.

So he cast his best teleport spell, which was tolerably good by the standards of most primes. (Your impression of Locador may be spoiled by the way that Vae uses it, or hCevian, or even Feralan and I. It is usually much more modest.) He had no idea where anything was, so he told it “as far as possible that way”.

Back in the parlor, Kebu set down his carving knife neatly, lining it up with the forks and chopsticks. “M’lady, the bodyguard has rendered himself strossulent and disproximal, in defiance of your wishes.”

“My wish is for quiet and calm while I finish this!” snapped Lady Noshi. Her body was quite occupied and entangled with Prince Rastomil’s, but her face showed not the slightest interest in those proceedings.

Kebu curtsied quietly, and stood by for further commands.

# # #

Hanija is a city of canals. Teleporting blindly around town is perhaps unwise, especially if one is paralyzed and unable to swim. Fortunately for Jagraton, he teleported somewhat over the water, and fell in with a loud splash.

An Orren boater pulled him out in an instant. “Hello, Sir Mister. Are you all right?”

The boater’s companion started doing the squeezes and presses that push water out of the lungs. “I think he’s drunk. There’s the gin and the arak, stinking on his breath.”

“He’d have to be, to do such a stunt as that. Hif-hith! He’s a well-dressed fumbergine, at least. Let’s take him to the house and let him sleep it off. Should be he’ll pay us a nice rescue-gift, if he’s got manners to match his clothing.”

Comments

[rowyn]

D:

Poor Rastomil! How utterly horrible.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

I don't know, he seems to be rather enjoying it at least so far...

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Why do so many people say that of rape victims?

[rowyn]

Rape via mind control or drugs or other methods is not less rape for the lack of obvious struggle at the time. I somehow am unconvinced that Rastomil is doing this of his own free will unimpaired by any other agent.

[rowyn]

"She didn't struggle or say no! That's consent, right? It's not like her being unconscious at the time is relevant."

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Even Jagraton -- about whom I have said few flattering things so far -- was also unconvinced. Especially considering the liberties that had been taken or attempted with his (Jagraton's) own person as well.

[rowyn]

I can't really blame Jagraton for dereliction of duty. Fleeing in the hope of getting help is probably more likely to work than trying to save Rastomil himself, while still paralyzed.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

I think people are reading far to much into a snarky comment.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Well, to take the comment literally: Jagraton did not report that Prince Rastomil specifically seemed to be enjoying it. He did seem to be single-mindedly focussing his attention on it, and was making no attempt to resist the situation, despite presumably being able to do so.

But the same could be be said of me when I was having my wings broken the other day.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm thinking it's less likely that Rastomil is in on this, now. *Are* they planning to blackmail him?

Also... whaaaa? o.O

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

Yes, but making a sarcastic comment about X in a fictional story doesn't mean one advocates X. When, for example, rowyn made a joking remark "I get it, you have a fetish for playing the part of prostitute and miss doing so since you left Thenel" in response to your predicament, no one starting making "I don't get why people find the sexual exploitation of women as prostitutes so funny" posts.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I think, rather, that insulting me in my own journal is widely acceptable.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

This is indeed worrisome for poor Prince Rastomil! Clearly some sort of mentador or mentador-related drugs are at work here, for tedious repartee does not normally immediately lead to adultery!

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

I apologize if you though I was be accusatory. I thought it was a pretty valid question, actually. It *was* the first thing you said, and is highlighting a very typical reaction/defense. I was hoping I might find enlightenment and insight into what I consider a nasty behavior.

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Coming from someone who contemplated being a prostitute at one point of their lives, I can say affectionately that there is a great deal of difference between someone who roleplays the part, which Synthry does, and the desperation that is called upon to actually be one.

We can laugh with Synthry and zier roleplaying aspects. I think if there was a reflection of real world prostitution, we'd have a different reaction.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's not THAT. I assumed when the bodyguard was poisoned that he and the girl were going to have sex.

I didn't think they'd do it *right there in the room* and Rastomil not seeming to notice or care about her attitude can't be normal.

Also, whhhhaaa?! I don't get her angle. Ritual magic would involve, you know, magic. And normal perversion would involve her being the slightest bit interested in it. What's left?

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Well, mind control of a nonmagical form! Like the Puppet Masters from the Robert Heinlein book, they could have aliens that are controlling them, and this could be how they are preparing to invade Prince Rastomil and thereby gain influence in the country from whence he came.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

It could be a prelude to ritual magic. Acquiring one of the necessary components through sex.

Doesn't seem like a very wholesome ritual if so, of course...

It could also be simply that Noshi wants a healthy heir of her body and is willing to go to great lengths to get one from someone other than her decrepit husband, but she doesn't have much interest in the actual conception. I don't know that I think this likely, though.

At any rate: Jagraton was subdued by Ruloc Corpador, perhaps in a bound(or even pattern-enchanted) form, perhaps carefully tailored to not register on the magic resistance(and thus even someone skilled at resisting magic has pretty poor odds, without being able to spend cley at the critical moment). It does seem more likely that Rastomil has been drugged somehow.

If the goal was simply to shame him and use the liaison as blackmail, A) it'd probably backfire and B) being so heavy-handed with the bodyguard would probably have been ill-advised. I don't think things are looking very good for our Rassimel prince, right now...

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Drugs are probably a simpler answer to this one. Wenezza, perhaps? Properly prepared, it or something like it might lead to the "don't care about anything else so long as the sex continues" sort of focus. Perhaps also laced with some other manner of aphrodisiac to keep him going(though that could be a mild RuCo effect, too weak for Jagraton to notice from a distance; Long Delights or similar. But physical stamina would still be an issue, so I think an aphrodisiac cocktail is more likely).

[redbird]

If this were a certain sort of fiction, this entire episode would have been a plot to kill Jagraton. This assumes someone who is known to want Jagraton dead (perhaps for reasons of anger or jealousy) or who could benefit by his death, but is clearly no enemy of the prince. Anyone investigating at this point is likely to think either that the motivation is to harm Rastomil, or that Lady Noshi is doing it to gain something else (such as an heir, or ritual magic).

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

That wasn't roleplaying though, it was making light of her being nearly beat to death and coerced into a marriage type arrangment against hir will. Which is my point: making light of something does not mean you necessarily approve of it. The three stooges weren't saying you should actually hit people with hammers, Groucho Marx wasn't saying you should actually scam widows out of their money, and I wasn't saying you should actually drug and rape people.

[rowyn]

In theory, it could be Mentador that Jagraton didn't detect; Mentador and Illusidor are generally harder to spot than other forms of magic. That doesn't seem likely, given Jagraton's confidence. It could be drugs, but Rassimel are generally hard to poison, so I'd expect them to resist drugs as well. So ... yeah, perplexing. o.O

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, people everywhere insult you in every which way. Most unbecoming for a Zi Ri!

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

My own fault for being traff, I'm afraid.

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

If it were simply blackmail, they'd find it pretty unsuccessful, considering that the whole point of him being in town is to get a bad reputation.

Jagratron Jagraton at least seems sensible, and it looks like his rescuers aren't quite low enough to just search his body and dump it back in the water.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Mentador has no such specific problem. It is more likely to go unnoticed or unremembered [i]by the target[/i], since many Mentador spells inherently make themselves unnoticed(and would be useless if they didn't), but active Mentador magic presents no particular difficulty to the magic sense as Illusidor does, and doesn't inherently mage-blind [i]everyone in the area[/i] to its presence without it being a hugely powerful spell that(being Mentador) would not be easy to acquire.

Rassimel may not be vulnerable to long-term poisons due to quick recovery from them, but short-term ones have no difficulty whatsoever. You'd have more problem with a Cani or Sleeth(who would be more likely to taste/smell the poison before ingesting an active dose).

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Given that Jagraton seems to be the source of information regarding these events(I think his opinions on the matter are mentioned in the above post), yeah, good bet that he survived to tell the tale.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Just like it's both-females' faults for being born as such? Or cley vampires'?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Just so.