15855/The devil's girl comes calling.

The devil's girl comes calling.
Date of Scene:	01 December 2023
Location:	McAnally's Pub
Synopsis:	Harry gets a visit from Satana about another weird dream.
Cast of Characters:	Harry Dresden, Satana

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Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry is sitting at the counter. The wards over this place are far different than the ones that surround his place. Mostly they are passive. A lot of Mac's is the fact nobody really knows what might happen and many question...what is Mac?

Harry has a steak sandwich and a bottle of the home brew at hand. Mac seems to be preparing another for him to take home.

Satana has posed:
"Harry, there you are! Same as always!" The familiar voice with its thrilling contralto greets Harry shortly after the door opens and practically every sensitive in the room feels something toying with the wards for play, stiffening up and staring either at the source or at Mac to see his reaction.

Let nobody say that the Devil's Daughter doesn't know how to make an entrance.

Slithering her way past the tables toward the counter, hips and shoulders working overtime in counterpoint to attract even more eyes her way, Satana sidles up next to Harry at the counter.

"Why don't you use those powers of yours to collect money, Harry? Then you could send the help to pick up your sandwiches."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Looking up into the mirror, Harry meets her gaze for a moment. He doesn't have to look to know who it is. He turns to watch her enter and studies the rest of the people react to her arrival.

A shake of his head and he tells her,"I do use them to collect money. Hence I can cross the street and buy my sandwich."

He considers and asks,"I haven't seen you in here many times. Did you decide this was some of the best food around like I mentioned?"

Satana has posed:
Satana Hellstrom says, "Oh, I'm not here for food, Harry," Satana says (which causes more than a few of the more nervously-attentive customers to visibly relax). "I'm here to discuss a problem."

Taking a set (on Harry's lap), Satana continues, "I've been having dreams. Of a ... how shall I put this ..."

She lets that hang until everybody listening in fills in the word 'erotic' or something similar. Then she continues.

"... familiar qualities. Only this time you weren't in them unless you've grown up into a 3m tall creature with a deer skull head."

She makes an elaborate show of inspecting Harry's head from several angles (using the opportunity to press against him in distracting ways ... *sigh* succubus!). "And that does not appear to be the case.""

Harry Dresden has posed:
He listens to her, raising a brow when she takes a seat on hom. He listens to her for the time being and doesn't seem terribly surprised what she said.

"Moutains and woods. Eating humans?" he fills in like maybe he's heard this one. Shaking his head he admits,"Whatever is going on, the person behind this is suicidal." Mac slips a sandwich to him and he stands, not knocking her off or anything, but not wanting to sit at the moment, digging into his wallet to drink,"Something sent that dream to you and to an Amazon. Whatever is going on, they are good at picking the wrong adversaries."

Satana has posed:
More than a few other inhabitants are getting a flash of jealousy at Harry getting the hottie sitting in his lap. Especially the hottie pressing herself against him. And sitting in a way that displays her wares, so to speak, to amplify said jealousy.

*Sigh.* Succubus.

"Yes. Mountains. Woods. A half-eaten woman. Tall thing with a deer skull for a head," Satana says, seemingly ignoring the audience, but posturing to maximize her exposure to them. Because. "I wasn't sure how much was dreamworld logic and how much was real world logic, so I opened a portal into a maximum security penitentiary to offer the contents as food." She shrugs in her jiggling way. "If it's dream world logic, no harm. If it's real world logic, no loss. At any rate it expressed interest, but when I moved it back to negotiate with it, to get a name of who was responsible for it, it got frustrated and attacked me."

Her voice goes dark. Low. Develops a second octave (minus a little for maximum dissonance) to her voice. And her eyes light up.

"I woke up before the battle started, but it moved like lightning. I might have been injured. It seemed rather formidable."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Getting the looks from the crowd, Harry ignores them and starts paying the bill. If any of them are suicidal enough, that's on them. He consders and leans on the counter a moment,"That's two dreams for you and Cassie." He frowns,"I wonder if any of the others have had another dream. I will see Willow probably tomorrow if not tonight."

Frown creasing deeper and he comments,"Sabrina will need checked in on as well. I think we'er talking about Wendigo, something that makes himself or herself immortal by committing canibalism. They never stop being hungry."

Satana has posed:
"Huh. So if I had actually unleashed it in a penitentiary it would have wiped out a whole bunch of sinners. What a pity that I didn't let it."

Wait, is that a hint of a conscience in the self-proclaimed Princess of Hell?

"I just robbed myself of a sizable army."

Nope. Only ... there is a twinkle in her now-no-longer-glowing eyes. Mischief.

"Are we going now?" she asks. "My limousine is outside if you want another round with me. Or two. Or ten. It's very durable, see."

Playing to the audience again. Some are looking at Harry with green eyes (most), some with warning looks (some), and one or two with even murder in them. (The Princess of Hell does know a thing or two about sowing discord.)

"As am I, if you want to try playing rougher this time."

*Sigh.* Succubus.

Harry Dresden has posed:
"I don't know. At the very least the thing would have eaten a lot of criminals. For better or worse." he mutters. He pauses and looks at her for a moment,"Wait a minute...could you locate where that was from just the dream or would you need more than that?"

He shakes his head and waves around,"You seem to have a lot of voluteers that would enjoy the idea of potentially dying to get their rocks off." he mutters softly.

"I am seeing someone of late and this one won't accidentally kill me." he muses. If he only knew. It wouldn't be an accident, Dark Willow kills for entertainment purposes.

Satana has posed:
Is that a momentary flash of disappointment Harry sees in Satana's face? Followed by a slightly less momentary flash of ire? Both in eyeblink speeds before her insouciant face takes over. Her eyes slide over her fan club. "But none of them are as intriguing as you, Harry," she says in an exaggerated voice. That carries. Then her eyes fix on Harry again. "Then who is my competition? Or, rather, future partner. I'm not the jealous kind. I like parties..."

She winks languidly.

All played to the crowd.

"Interesting question, however. If that thing in my dream was real, I can find it. I can find any soul in a plane. And if it's in another plane, I can find that plane, go there, then find that soul."

She narrows her eyes. "It attacked me. It put its aura straight in contact with mine. If it's real and if it's in this place, I can take you to it now."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry frowns deeper and admits,"Saves me having to scry it out if you can do that." he admits. If he notes the ire he doesn't comment. Instead he strums his fingers on the counter.

"If we wait a few days, see if anyone else comes up with this it might give me some clues as to why everyone is getting these. To be honest, messing with your dreams or Cassie's dreams are really dumb. Last time Faith was also dreaming. Willow too. None of these are intelligent choices to poke at, add you to the mix and it gets dumber yet."

it looks like he might glaze over her question while he is thinking so hard, but he finally says,"Willow." again,"We were together after two really bad situations and the eventually we just accepted the facts and moved forward."

Satana has posed:
"My apprentice?" Satana asks, her long, thin eyebrows arching on the right side in a querulous rise. "I appear to have been a good influence on her while teaching then. She was so wound up. It's good to hear she's learned the virtues of lust."

And so much for jealousy. Satana seems almost happy to hear this. Which is likely a danger sign.

"Perhaps when you've finished exploring each other I can join in and teach you both about yourselves and each other."

*Sigh.* Succubus.

"Have you noticed she's more ... relaxed and extemporaneous in her spell casting? I've been trying to introduce her to actually understanding mana instead of merely manipulating it by rote."

Harry Dresden has posed:
"Apprentice gets tossed around a lot." Harry muses softly and shakes his head,"We were in quite the situation and I think since we managed not to kill each other, we figured out maybe there was something to look at."

Always ary about Satana, she's not known as the devil's daughter for no reason,"I'll keep that in mind." he tells her about the exploring. A nod and he agrees,"She is at that. She took to using fire much faster than I would have anticipated too. If she's going to fight vampires I wanted her to be armed a little better."

Satana has posed:
"Well," Satana says with a chuckle, "when training her to innovate on the fly with her shield ... and it's a wonderful shield made of mana FIBRE, very intriguing design! ... I did attack with fire. I think I left a bit of an impression." A Hell Lord wielding flame would, indeed, leave an impression in most. "So I'm glad to hear she's working with fire. It's such a lovely substance. Beautiful. And oh so perfect for sowing panic and chaos!"

Harry Dresden has posed:
Shaking his his head Harry admits,"If you can teach her to fly that will be one up on me. I haven't been able to conquor that one. Not that I have tried overly. Plenty of other things that I have been tied up with. Fire is the untimate equalizer for sure. Build a man a fire, he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire, he's warm for the rest of his life."

Satana has posed:
"Fly? Well, I can levitate naturally," Satana says as the pair head out of Mac's, adding a little extra hip motion for her fans. (She'll be hanging around afterwards to pick one or two or ten of them up later.) "But for honest-to-goodness flight I either have to release my wings or I have to use spells. So I could teach her the spells. Or I could teach her demonology so she can just summon a servitor."

She smiles, and this time it's not a pretty smile. Or, rather, it is. Pretty evil.

"Demonic servitors are far more flexible. I could teach her a few True Names of some reasonably powerful imps or even fiends to get her used to ordering them around. Then teach her full-on summoning and bargaining with Powers. Did you know that water elementals can be among the greatest of lovers?"

Harry Dresden has posed:
"I wasn't sure." he admits,"It would b helpful to fly, but I am OK with feet on the ground. Given the options you are presenting, she is probably ok walking too."

Shaking his head he admits,"Summoning demons can be tricky, particularly for full mortal magic users. Partial's like you have an in for doing it and probably are considerably in better control."

Satana has posed:
"Well, I did offer that as the last option. I can teach her fundamental magics of flying. Well, of using air elementals to move you. It's a form of summoning, I guess, but air elementals are brainless puffs of air. Not really a hazard. Less hazardous than an aircraft, really." Satana opines. "My own aptitude for summoning does stem from connections, obviously. I have the most extensive library of Names in most planes. But, too, those I summon know what happens to them if they anger me."

Her face darkens.

"Basilisk is not a creature to be trifled with. Hell Lords would rather put up with the humiliation of following a request, especially if negotiated, than to tangle with him. Because even though they would win, they would be weakened enough to be the victims of their own more powerful servants in the process. And I would be untouched."

And thus does Harry learn a new word. Basilisk. And it sounds like a proper noun, not a class of creatures.

"So yes, I think it would be better to teach her, and perhaps you?, to fly."