Dark yellow reptilian eyes scanned the outside of the building that was known as the Second Circle, a tavern and brothel in the heart of the one of most dangerous cities in the lands. With nearly a full block used up as the buildings footprint it wasn’t a small location either, and there was an energy about that Tourmaline felt pulling her towards it. But this was the place that had been described to her by Xyaban to come to in order that Tourmaline might be able to see her father once last time. Tour had spent two days with Xyaban after meeting the short dragoness, and Tour had been put off by a few of Xy’s mannerisms. But she hadn’t seen any reason to hate Xyaban, or not believe that insane dragon, because at least she was able to tell Tourmaline what had happened to her father.

Without hesitation Tourmaline walked into the tavern, greeted by the lavish decorations the moment she looked around after closing the door. Tour stood at a couple of inches under six feet tall, her flawless slightly grey hued skin and dull green hair that was to her shoulder and a pair of wings, larger than one would expect on a person of her stature, made for a striking appearance. The armour she wore, if one wanted to call it that, exposed her thighs and on her right thigh was a large tribalistic tattoo in black ink. The feathers on her wings were grey, as Hacesh had grey scales that colour had been passed to his daughter. Tourmaline had a ring in her lower lip, a nose ring, her eyebrows had a few piercings, and if one watched her mouth when she spoke they would see the stud in her tongue, and of course her ears were pierced to.

She stretched her wings while she had the room before folding them up almost flat to her back, there was no hiding wings as large as hers but at least it made walking around inside easier. Tourmaline walked further in, seeing all the pretty people, they seemed to be busy today, mingling around, some of them glanced in her direction before looking away when she turned her gaze to them. The half dragon walked over to the bar, she was here for a reason and, for a rare time, she was focused enough on a task to not be lazy about it. If it was almost anyone but her father she was here looking for Tour probably would have taken a day or three to enjoy what this place had to offer.

”Welcome to the Second Circle, can I get you a drink? A room?” The male barkeep asked with a smile.

Tour grinned. ”I’m good for now, but thank you. I’m actually looking to gain an audience with the Queen if at all possible?” She asked.

The keep nodded. ”I see. In that case, in that corner you’ll see a tapestry, with a wolf with a snake coiled around its neck. Place you palm against it.”

Tour raised a pierced brow. ”That’s all?” He nodded. ”Thank you for your help.” Tour nodded to him and made her to the tapestry, finding it as he had described it. Tour reached out and placed her palm as she had been told to do.

In a heart beat and a rush Tour found herself in another location, but before she could look around she needed the room to stop spinning. Finding something to grab onto to steady herself she waited for the woozy feeling to pass. ”I hate portal magic.” She breathed to herself as things started to come back to normal for her.

What she saw was a hallway of doors and she could hear all manner of sounds coming from them all. ~Remember, you’re here for dad, just remember that, keep that as your focus.~ Tour thought as she walked passed several doors until one of them made her stop and stare. Without thinking of it Tour opened the door and walked in and the scene shifted around her in a blink.

Moans of pleasure filled her eyes as she blinked and looked around, suddenly she was in a familiar room with familiar people. Severn males and females of varying races, a table at the end of the room with tons of food and drinks. ”You ok?” A male voice asked and she Tour snapped her attention to him as she laid on her back with him standing over her.

”Y, yes, sorry, might have had a bit too much to drink. Keep going, that feels gooood.” She smiled, and part of recognized what was going on. ~Ohhh, this was the orgy I joined for my two hundredth birthday! And this male was… well, probably my favourite of that night.~ Tour remembered as things started to click in her mind. This had been, to this day, one of her most favourite nights, a group of friends she had made, coming together to enjoy a night of pleasure, and to celebrate Tourmaline’s birthday.

Tourmaline laid there just enjoying what the male was doing to her, adjusting herself a bit to make her wings more comfortable. A stunning half demon female came over and laid down next to Tour with a grin. ”Having a fun birthday party?”

”Yup.” Tour replied and pulled the half demon in for a lust filled kiss while the male continued his own work on Tourmaline. But something nagged in the back of Tour’s mind. It was a little while later and Tour was wrapped in the arms of another woman, face to face, the other woman on her and a male behind them. ”Feels like I’m forgetting something.” Tour whispered as she looked around between breaths and kisses. The woman under her went to take Tour’s cheek to draw her back into the kiss again, but Tour resisted. ”No, seriously, I’m forgetting something important.”

The female frowned. ”You remembered to lie to your mom about where you were going tonight?”

Tour stared at the woman; what kind of question was that?! But that did shift her brain in the right direction. ”Ok, stop, I need a moment to think.” She said to the male behind her, who shrugged and focused his attention back to the other woman who moaned in Tour’s ear just as the half dragon got up from them and stepped away.

Something wasn’t right suddenly as she looked at the group of people enjoying themselves and each other. Putting her back to the wall for a moment, a word escaped her lips. ”Dad.” Right away the group stopped whatever they were going and looked to Tour and started to beckon her to join them again. ”N, no, this happened in the past, I was trying to find dad!” She felt the wall behind her change and turned to see that it had become a door and she quickly reached for the doorknob.

The smell of flowers assailed her nose the moment she was through the door, finding herself in a courtyard instead of a room full of lustful people. Tourmaline took a few breaths to collect herself as she looked around at the fountains, acts of pleasure and torture, an odd mix, but she knew who’s place this was so it wasn’t out of place. Walking down the pathway Tourmaline found herself, after opening some more doors, inside of a nearly identical room like the Second Circle.

Only the two working the bar were there at the moment as she Tour made her way over. They smiled and the man asked what she wanted to drink. ”Bourbon, neat, please.” She asked and it came to her quickly and she downed it in one go, trying to get her nerves back together again. ”Another, please. And is this where I can request an audience with the Queen?”

The woman smiled as another drink appeared in front of Tour and said that it was, wondering if Tour needed anything, or anyone, else. ”N, no, that’s ok. I’d just like to make my request for an audience please, my name is Tourmaline, a dragoness named Xyaban sent me.” The look that came over the two of them for an instant before it was hidden again made Tour raised an eyebrow.

Huh?

”What?” Serafina’s voice was sharp as one of the ‘bartenders’ that greeted people as they arrived at the Hall of Indulgence informed her of the newest arrival seeking audience with her, and the name that they had dropped upon their arrival. Xyaban hadn’t exactly put herself into Serafina’s good graces, considering that a large chunk of the information she had given her had been completely and utterly false. The further Serafina had thought on it, the more it came to light that Xyaban was more than likely completely insane, but it still did not remove the ire that the goddess felt from having been so extravagantly lied to. The trouble she had gone through, though more of an annoyance than anything, had been enough for a nearly permanent grudge to be instilled in her mind. ”That psycho sent someone here to see me? This ought to be good,” she said, though she didn’t seem excited at all in the least. She flopped back into her bed with a groan, as the bartender had come to her sleeping quarters to inform her of the arrival.

The goddess held a hand to her forehead as though she were greatly annoyed, and stood up from where she had been sitting. ”Fine,” she said, with a defeated sounding sigh. ”Bring them to the south sitting room. I’ll be there momentarily, after I dress,” she added. When the bartender left, Serafina got out of bed and went about making herself presentable. You would have thought that after all this time, she would be used to having to give audience to the many people who came to her realm, seeking council with her – but no, she still mostly found it horribly annoying and would rather be doing anything else.

The bartender returned to where Tourmaline waited and offered to escort her to a meeting room where the goddess Serafina would meet her. When they arrived in the room, it was decorated much in the same manner that the rest of the Hall of Indulgence was, though much smaller and more private. A couch sat against one wall, and a table in the middle with four chairs around it. It was clear that this was a room used specifically for discussion and meeting, rather than what one would assume would happen behind closed doors in this realm. The bartender motioned for Tourmaline to be seated in one of the chairs at the table and walked out of the room, closing it behind them when they walked out.

Tourmaline was not made to wait long, as only a few minutes later the doors swung open and Serafina walked in in all her glory. Curled, blonde hair cascaded around her shoulders. Dark makeup framed her icy blue eyes. Her dress was red and black satin, looking as though it had been sewn onto her body in the way it fit her. She said nothing. She sashayed to the table and sat down opposite Tourmaline, placing both hands on the table.

”So. Your name? And, you said you were sent by Xyaban?” she asked, and the way she spoke the name almost seemed as though there was venom dripping from the words. ”Tell me, what lies did that wretched piece of shit send you to tell me?” she seethed, leaning forward slightly with a sinister look upon her face. ”Or are you merely another little fly, caught in her web of deceit?” she asked. It was clear that she was going to forgo any niceties that she would usually uphold, Xyaban’s name causing her to throw out any sense of formality. She awaited an explanation from her visitor, not planning any sort of attack but clearly not a fan of Xyaban’s in the slightest, something which she was sure this visitor would no doubt be curious to find out why.

The half dragon waited, the look on the woman’s face bothering her now. What had she walked into? But the bartender came back a little bit later and escorted Tourmaline to a private room to have the meeting with the Queen. Tourmaline was offered a seat and she did sit, though she had to shift a bit to get her wings comfortable, and in the end she got them over the back of the chair and she had to close them just a bit around herself.

Though by the time she got herself comfortable the Goddess herself walked in and Tourmaline stood up to greet the Goddess properly. When your mother was an angel you learned how to address the Gods properly. Tour didn’t say anything however, as it was clear that Serafina wasn’t in the mood, shit, what the hell was going on?! Tour sat down as Serafina started to speak and the venom with which she spoke Xyaban’s name put Tour on edge. ”Tourmaline, and yes, it was her that sent me.” Tourmaline replied.

Web of deceit? What, the, fuck?! ”Uh, well, put simply, since I’m sensing I should get to the point quickly, is that she sent me here because she said that you could help me see my father again. Apparently he was murdered but that she saw him once here before when she came to see you, he is a dragon named Hacesh. Is this true?” Tour asked. ”You seem to know more than I do, or at least a different story. Please, can you tell me? I’ve been looking for dad for over a year now with no leads, it wasn’t until I ran into Xyaban that she told me he was dead, and that she had him had been mates.” She was asking nicely but there was a hint of desperation in Tourmaline’s voice, she just wanted to know the truth of what had happened with her father.

”Hmph.” The noise that Serafina made was clearly one of disapproval, but it was indeterminate whether said disapproval was aimed at Tourmaline, or at Xyaban. Serafina remained quiet for a few moments, before she came to the conclusion that Tourmaline had most likely been deceived just as she had been by Xyaban. It didn’t come as a surprise to her, when she reached that conclusion, of course.

Serafina sat back in her chair as Tourmaline offered a clearer, albeit brief, explanation of just what Xyaban had told her regarding the relationship he had with Hacesh, an interesting dragon that Serafina had gotten to know a bit since he had been placed in Inferos. ”Well,” she began. ”I think the only part of that which could possibly be true is the bit about me having the ability to allow you to see him, at least in some capacity,” she said. Her voice sounded exasperated beyond belief, but this time it was a bit more apparent that said exasperation was not directed at Tourmaline. No, that exasperation was focused on the mere memory of dealing with Xyaban.

Dealing with Xyaban had been just fine at first – the dragoness, crazy as she was, had come across as just another traveler seeking Serafina’s assistance in seeing someone they had lost just one last time – but it had ended up being a lot more beyond that. The holes in her story had been small at first, but over time they had stretched bigger and bigger until the full truth had finally been revealed. Serafina had been rather shocked, of course, at just how insane the dragoness actually was, and it had made her feel bad for Hacesh – so much so that she had almost considered releasing him from Inferos, though it had not come to that.

”I see two options ahead of us, Tourmaline,” she said finally, stretching out the syllables in Tourmaline’s name. ”One, I can tell you about how, from my understanding, that psychotic bitch had him under some sort of hypnotism where he had no clue what the ever living fuck was going on,” she began. ”Or, I can take you to Cupiditas and you can speak with Hacesh for yourself,” she added. It would be a simple enough journey if Tourmaline chose the latter, and one that Serafina would be happy to make. Hacesh had sort of grown on her the few times she had spoken with the dragon, and she assumed that seeing his daughter wouldn’t be the worst thing for Hacesh, unless Tourmaline was lying just as Xyaban had been but Serafina did not get that feeling from her. ”The decision is yours.”

[OOC: Gmod granted from Whit.]

Tour frowned at the noise that Serafina made, that wasn’t a good thing either. When she spoke she sounded exasperated, but what she said was concerning for sure. How much of what Xyaban told her was false then? Tourmaline was far more willing to trust that Serafina, a woman she had just met, was telling her the truth, or at least more of it, compared to Xyaban. ”Shit, I knew something off about her, but she was able to tell me about dad so I overlooked it more than I should have.” She grumbled.

Serafina presented the options that she saw before them and Tourmaline thought a moment. ”I’d like to talk my father, please, and thank you for this.” Tourmaline replied, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to hear anything more from Serafina, but just that Tour really wanted to see her father again. After a hundred years you start to miss someone, and he wasn’t a bad father when he had been around for those one hundred years after Tour had been born.

So Tourmaline followed the Goddess, nervous as to what her father might have to say.

__


Hacesh had been in the middle of something when he had got a mental note from Serafina that he was needed for something and to get himself decent. A meeting spot was also indicated and he wasn’t too far from it either. Since he had been first visited by Xyaban and had been let out by Serafina for some much needed, and cathartic, giant turkey killing, things had improved for him. Serafina seemed to like him and he was given a bit more freedom than most. So he was curious as to what he was needed for.

Since he had been in Cupiditas Hacesh got himself decent again after removing himself from the bed he had been in with a few lovers. Dressed, well, just pants anyway, Hacesh waited at the meeting spot that Serafina had told him to be at.

”Hey, dad.” A very familiar voice spoke and Hacesh spun around to find himself looking at his youngest child, Tourmaline.

”T, Tourmaline?!” He breathed, momentary joy was on his face before something else occurred to him. ”You, you aren’t dead are you?” Tourmaline smiled, shook her head and wiped a tear from her eye before stepping over to him and half tackling him, wrapped her arms around his chest in a tight hug. Hacesh smiled and returned the hug, his larger wings wrapped around her protectively like when she had been a child. ”My little sparrow, I love you, I’m sorry for..”

”It’s ok, dad, it’s your nature, I know, I’m not mad that you left. I’m just happy to see you again.” Tourmaline cut him off and broke the hug and backed up a step as he opened his wings again.

Hacesh smiled and looked from Tour to Sera. ”Thank you.” He said simply, but there was a lot of weight behind the words. He looked back to Tour again. ”But why are you here? And how is your mother?”

”So, long story short, mom sent me to find you, partly because she wanted to where you were, and partly because she was tired of me doing nothing. Mom’s fine otherwise, same as she always is.” She paused a moment and looked to Hacesh with concern in her eyes. ”Dad, I looked for you in these lands for almost a year. What happened? How long have you been… dead for? What the fuck happened with this Xyaban dragon?! She’s the one that told me you were here, that you and her were mates? That you had been murdered?!”

Hacesh, at the dragoness’ name, frowned, that was the last being that he had wanted Tourmaline to run into. It was good that she got away from that nutcase without being harmed. ”Oh, Tour, that… shit, this isn’t something I had wanted you, your mom, or, uh, any of you half siblings to know.” He sighed sadly. ”Please, sit, and I will tell you, I’m not going to try and hide the truth from you.”

Serafina almost let out a loud shot of laughter at Tourmaline’s question as to something being off about Xyaban. ”Understatement of the year,” she said under her breath, though it was not said quietly in an attempt to keep Tourmaline from hearing it – it was nothing but an offhanded remark in regards to the situation as a whole. But, when Tourmaline expressed that yes, she would like to see her father, Serafina nodded in understanding and went about her way in bringing Tourmaline to Cupiditas.

It was easy for her to send mental communication to Hacesh. She had taken somewhat of a liking to him over the time he had been in her realm, having let him have a bit more free reign than most of those in that particular Circle of Inferos. He was not forced to be a mindless machine as some of them were, instead being free to mostly do as he pleased. Unless he began to cause problems, she saw no reason to change that… and she had a feeling he wouldn’t be causing any problems. He didn’t seem like the type.

Serafina remained quiet once Tourmaline had found her father. She watched from a close distance, having leaned up against a nearby pillar as father and daughter began to speak. She knew that when Hacesh told Tourmaline what had really happened with Xyaban, that Tourmaline was not going to pleased. Hell, even just hearing it again was going to be enough to set Serafina herself off… but this was something that needed to happen. A daughter deserved to know what had truly happened to her father, and Tourmaline most certainly needed to know the extent to which Xyaban had manipulated her.

”Thank you.” Tour said to Serafina as the Goddess led the way to Hacesh, into the realm of dead. This was somewhat eerie to Tourmaline to be in a place that usually only the dead would inhabit. Plus the fact that it was the ‘naughty place’ for bad souls, made it so that her angelic side was on edge a little bit, but countered by her more neutral state and her want to see her father and Tour was able to push those thoughts aside.

Once with her father Tour sat as he had asked her and Hacesh sat beside her. ”I met Xyaban through chance one evening at a spring, and, well, we…”

Tour rolled her eyes. ”Dad, I’m over two hundred years old, I’m capable of having these conversations without cringing. I know what you’re like, and I know you would have found Xyaban appealing.”

Hacesh blinked and then grinned. ”Fair enough. Anyway, things started off ok, but then I started to get a creeping feeling that something wasn’t right. She asked if I wanted to visit her home and, stupidly, I agreed. She said she had a baby boy, her cave was surprisingly well kept, for how she is, but when I saw that her ‘baby’ was actually a stuffed toy I knew she was touched in the head and I needed to leave.” He sighed. ”But, I underestimated her, she’s much faster than I thought she would have been and far stronger to for a dragon of her size, she’s actually a few feet shorter than normal for a venom dragon.”

”Venom dragon?! I think you told me about them once before, they can create their own powerful toxins in their bodies?” Tour asked, and it seemed she might have had an idea of what was coming next.

Hacesh nodded. ”Yup, they can. But before I could get out of there she managed to stab with her needle blade in her left wrist.”

”She killed you? For what?”

”It wasn’t enough venom to kill me, but it knocked me out cold. When I woke up next she had chained me down and kept me drugged enough that I couldn’t focus enough to use any of my magic or change to my larger form.” Hacesh rubbed at his face and sighed heavily, now was the hard part of the story to tell. ”I, I don’t want to go into too much detail, but, she started to… torture me, brainwash me, over months, until she broke me. Tour, the things she did, I can’t… “ Tourmaline hugged her father close as she saw a few tears in his eyes. ”She broke me, and once she had she started to manipulate my thoughts, and I don’t even think she truly know she was doing it! She’s so fucking deluded in her own little fake reality that she’ll subconsciously do almost anything to make it real reality! She had me believing that that doll she had was our child, that we had been mates for a few years. I, the things she had me do…”

Dad, I’m so sorry.” Tour hugged her him tighter, unable to properly process what he had gone through, as tears filled her own eyes. That bitch! A seed of rage was growing deep in Tour’s heart now. ”You don’t have to continue now.”

Hacesh wiped a few tears from his eyes as he hugged Tour back. ”No, I’ll be ok.” He replied. ”I don’t know exactly how long she had me controlled, but one day I was at a pond or something where she had sent me and the doll to meet her. She was going to get something from the city or something, I don’t it’s too hazy, so I was to wait for her. But, a man named Raith…”

”Uh, like, the God Raith?!”

”Yes, but he wasn’t a God at that point. He saw the doll and I guess with the way I was talking and acting figured that something had been done to my mind. But what Xyaban had done to me rendered me almost useless in a fight, so Raith managed to get the doll from me and he tore it in half. That made me attack him, because I thought he had just ripped my child in half. But ineffective in a fight as I was, Raith was able to kill me.” Hacesh looked at his daughter and when he saw the look on her face her frowned. ”I know that look, this isn’t on Raith, he did me a favour without really knowing it, and I’ve talked to him since then thanks to Serafina and we’re past that happening.”

”Ok, I understand.” Tour replied, but the look hadn’t gone away.

”No, Tourmaline, I know what you’re thinking, don’t go after Xyaban, she’s too dangerous. Please, just stay away from her, go back home to your mother.” Hacesh pleaded.

Tourmaline looked away from him for a moment and then back again. ”And tell her what? That you were brainwashed, then murdered and I just left and did nothing? How do you think mom will react? She’ll be here faster than you can blink wanting to know everything so she can go and kill Xyaban, and I’ll be right there with her. You do remember what kind of angel she is, right?” Hacesh nodded slowly as Tourmaline stood. ”And I’m her daughter, and you’re my father, and I’m not going to stand here and let that fucking bitch get away with this!”

Hacesh stood now and grabbed Tour by the shoulders. ”No, I can’t let you do that, Tourmaline, it’s not worth the risk. She’s too manipulative and a far stronger and faster than she looks. She enjoys pain like pleasure, and she heals even faster than I do! I once saw her stab herself in a thigh for fun and it healed in a matter of seconds. She’s snapped off her own quills one by one just for the sexual high, but they grow back inside of a day or so depending on the length. Just leave her alone and go home, please! Hacesh pleaded again and pulled Tourmaline in for a hug.

Tour returned the hug and was quiet for a moment. ”Ok, I’ll make plans to head home then, dad. I’m sorry for everything that happened, but I’m glad I got to see you again, I love you.”

”I love you too, Tourmaline, you’ll always be my little sparrow.” He released the hug as Tour pulled away.

”Thank you, Serafina, for everything. I’ll see you around.” Tour smiled and gave a small bow to the Goddess before taking her leave the way that they had came, with or without Serafina.

When Tour was gone Hacesh sighed and looked to Serafina, worry written across his face. ”Tour’s lazy to be sure, but once she sets her mind on something she won’t relent, she gets that from her mother. An angel of vengeance.” His voice spoke volumes, he knew that Tour would go after Xyaban, she wouldn’t let this go, in that sense she was too much like her mother.