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[have_hat_will_travel]

[From user: dreadsexy. Interesting choice on Pidonus's part.]

Hey, this is Pidonus Marasia. I'm trying to figure out my goals and motivations and such a bit while I'm here, because the more I'm reviewing the situation, the more likely it is that it's gonna be quite some time before we find my world and I can return to my Queen. So, I gotta come up with motivations for myself,
I guess? Other than, you know, the dungeons. Which have some very weird loot, to say the least...

Anyways! I'd kinda like to try and get some, well, minions for myself. People willing to let me influence their minds into long-term servitude. Key word there is willing, because as quite a few people here have emphasized, it'd be a mistake for me to just take people's wills with my seductive powers.

Of course, anyone who would voluntarily agree to being under my spell is someone with clear and very severe issues. Like, if your mindstate's bad enough that "under the maniplation of a Succubus" qualifies to your own perception as an improvement... I mean, whatever floats your boat I guess, but I'm pretty sure in some cities that would legally qualify you as 'kind of insane'.

So, uh... What does that leave? I genuinely don't know. I'm. Sorta new to the whole 'need to have my own motivations' thing, and the Chaotic and Evil subtypes unto themselves don't do a lot for giving me ideas.

Comments

[have_hat_will_travel]

Honestly, you are not wrong. I'm mentally afloat in a situation that has zero relation to anything I've been trained or taught for previously, and have barely had time to learn my kind's inherent culture and the like because my Queen put me to work the moment I was formed. So I'm literally just going with 'okay, did it feel good when I did this' to guess my way through being a Succubus, then controlling for 'what do I do to avoid getting killed for doing it'.

You put that together, and this post's my first conclusion that has an internally complete attempt at logic to it.

[founderinglight]

The problem, I think, is that you're attacking the question from the wrong angle. Motivation is not what you do; it's what you desire.

[have_hat_will_travel]

... Well, uh, what I desire, besides the approval of my Queen, uh...

... Is a really good question? The thing I most desired besides said approval I already got, and it was nice and all, but I'd really rather not hate a specific inidividual so much that revenge is the only motivation I have again, you know? It wasn't healthy when I did that the first time, making it a normal pattern would just be really screwed up. I think.

[Mind, a lot of demons would find that perfectly normal...]

[founderinglight]

[And if she did, Izunia wouldn't blame her a bit, given his family's complicated issues with revenge.]

No, I would certainly agree to that. It's exhausting as motivations go.

[On the other hand, fuck bahamut.]

[have_hat_will_travel]

... Yeah, makes sense.

So right now, the thing that'd be the coolest to have is a small team of cute minions. And I'll work... Uh, I dunno if 'up' is the word, but something, from there.

[founderinglight]

If you're looking to build a power base, what purpose you'd use it for might be a good start on approaching the matter is your motivations.

[He's intentionally leaving this all open-ended, for her to voice her own thoughts.]

[have_hat_will_travel]

... I honestly don't know that I have a higher motivation? I don't want to run some vast organization like my Queen or have to rule an entire layer of the Abyss, so not too many people, that's for sure..

[founderinglight]

Then why pursue the matter of minions at all?

[have_hat_will_travel]

... It feels wrong, somehow, for me not to? I mean, I'm a Succubus, so....

[founderinglight]

That means very nearly nothing to me, if you'll allow some honesty.

[have_hat_will_travel]

I'm not sure where to start giving it meaning, because I basically learned how to use my powers, was hastily assigned a series of whys, and then I ran out of them before I got here.

So, you get complicated and ill-advised brainsplats about the amoral things that I can do and, by the standard of the others of my kind that I have met, probably should be doing. Because my kind's entry in the Monster Manual doesn't give enough to work with on its own.

[founderinglight]

Any person is capable of amoral things. It is the matter of actions and intentions that I concern myself with, not the matter of possibility.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Mmm. Fair and logical, I guess. It's not like Enchantment spells have the Evil modifier applied to them, after all. They're usable for good purposes, even, as unintuitive as that may sound at first.

But for my ilk, Evil's supposed to be inherent and the default state of being. But I keep having qualms about that... That's not how it should be.

[founderinglight]

If you'll again permit me to be blunt, eschewing tradition may not be a bad thing in the long run.

[have_hat_will_travel]

... You might be right. But it still feels wrong. Saying 'supposed to be' was not the most accurate thing; the cosmic energy of Evil is literally part of my being. So... Uh. That's kinda part of the problem.

[founderinglight]

And the blessing of the Draconian is literally a part of mine, but that doesn't mean that I won't do my damnedest to render him into so very much divine scrap metal should I ever encounter him again. You have a predisposition, but it need not define you.

[have_hat_will_travel]

... That makes some sense, I guess.

That leaves my Queen as the last thing I must consider, and what she would desire of me. Which... Uh, good question there, too, honestly?

[founderinglight]

Self-determination is a hard road if you choose to embark on it. You can't rely on the opinions of others, especially those who aren't here.

But I think you can manage. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ★

[Emoji for emphasis!]

[have_hat_will_travel]

[There's a distinct delay before Pidonus responds this time...]

I am loyal to my Queen. I seek to return to her.

[And she's probably forgotten a fair bit of this conversation.]

Private

[foolishjustice]

[Oh, Pidonus' response...sure seems familiar.]

She's under some sort of mental effect. Saying anything that causes her to reconsider her loyalty to her Queen causes her to enter a trance and forget the past several minutes.

I expect it will be more productive to work at her concept of freedom and self-motivation independently of that loyalty, at least until we figure out how to prevent that influence from activating.

Private

[founderinglight]

Hmm. That is a problem. And given what she's said here, she seems to think that such a thing is a matter of course in terms of ensuring loyalty.

Private

[foolishjustice]

I've been trying to think of ways to remove it without affecting her psyche in other ways. I doubt a standard status removal skill would work, but the only alternatives I have available at the moment are a little extreme. And I'm not even certain one of them is viable here.

Private

[founderinglight]

That's more than I have, admittedly. Long-term effects like that aren't common on Eos. I would almost say impossible, except...

...Nevermind.

Private (P5 spoilers)

[foolishjustice]

I admit, the ability I'm certain I have access to isn't something I've ever used to try to undo a permanent effect. I have the ability to temporarily break all of the bonds on a person's heart and free them from any sort of outside influence, but it doesn't discriminate between excessive restraints and necessary ones. It can be quite dangerous to allow someone's innermost, repressed desires such free reign, and I can't even say whether or not the enchantment will reassert itself as soon as the effect wears off.

The other one...might not even be possible, without access to the places that have a strong presence in her cognition.

Private (P5 spoilers)

[founderinglight]

Especially on someone who has admitted to the ability to mentally influence others. It might cause a chain reaction through the entire station.I'm inclined to think that those are not her own true desires, but it's an unpleasant risk.

What does the other method entail?