TRP: Bee and Mishka (A Brief History)

[SETTING: Day 383. Mishka meets Bee at a local inn to talk about Sam.]

Mishka stepped into the Horse 'N Ham late that afternoon. Bee wasn't around yet-- or at least, he didn't think so-- so he sat down in an empty booth. He wasn't totally sure what they looked like.

He'd written in his note: I'll be the dashingly handsome blond elf in the tan cloak and the black tunic with gold embroidery, so he figured they'd recognize him and come over.

IZZY

After a couple minutes, someone in another booth slipped out of it and padded over to him, holding his note -- they were small, unarmed, and had a pleasant expression on their face.

They held the note up with a smile.

COYOTE

Mishka smiled back. "Mishka Bell," he said. "Bee?"

IZZY

"Yes," they said, sounding pleased. They folded the note to slip it into a pocket, and sat in the booth across from him.

COYOTE

"Are you really a cleric of Lathander?"

IZZY

"Oh, I never said that I was a cleric."

COYOTE

"Paladin?" Mishka watched their face.

IZZY

"Yes." They smiled.

COYOTE

It was incredibly hard to read the minds of paladins and clerics, which annoyed the piss out of Mishka. "Neat," he said. "Buy you a drink? D'you drink?"

IZZY

"In moderation," they allowed. "You know, I'm new to Skyport. Are there any particularly good places I should know about?"

COYOTE

"No, but there's loads of bad places you should avoid," Mishka said, amused. "Avoid most places near the docks, try not to get too close to the west side of town, and frankly, just plain stay out of the nobility district. The carnival district is fun but you should probably watch your purse."

IZZY

Their smile quirked a bit at one corner. "I'll keep that in mind, thank you."

COYOTE

Mishka kicked his feet up on the empty booth seat across from him. "What's this business you're talking to Larkin about?" he asked blandly. "I'm curious."

IZZY

"I'm not sure I should talk about it," they said, contrite. "It seems to be something of a secret that the criminals of the city dislike the upholders of the law."

COYOTE

"Are you making fun of my business associate?" Mishka said, amused. "Don't do that. She's good at her job and she knows what she's doing, and her job is intimidating people, making sure people respect her and knows the rules, and keeping people in line. It's my job to talk to you."

IZZY

"Oh, I see." They tilted their head. "I should have come to you in the first place, then. My apologies."

COYOTE

Mishka waved his hand dismissively. "It's not like you knew. So you're looking to destroy the Church of Helm? Is that it?"

IZZY

"It's a secondary goal," they admitted. "I wasn't aware of the ..." They trailed off, and lowered their voice slightly. "The Helmites. Not until I arrived here. But eliminating them would be worth my time and effort, yes."

COYOTE

Mishka watched Bee over the rim of his drink. "What's your primary goal?"

He sipped.

IZZY

"I'm trying to find and help a friend. I assume Ms Basha filled you in. Sam Obsidia." They made a gesture indicating someone about a foot taller than themself. "Scruffy man. Chronically has twigs in his hair."

COYOTE

"Mm. Help him how?"

IZZY

"I'm not sure if I should talk about that, either," they said. "It's rather personal."

COYOTE

Mishka took a drink and thought about this. This was a very reasonable decision on their part, he supposed.

"Huh," Mishka said. "Well, I'm not going to bullshit you. I've met Sam and I'm a friend as well. If you're talking about helping him, I'm curious about how that is and why."

IZZY

"I see." Their brow wrinkled a little. "You must realize, if you're friends with him, that he has some ... problems, then."

COYOTE

Mishka raised his eyebrows.

IZZY

"Do you know about the demon?" they asked.

COYOTE

"Demon is a harsh word. A very harsh... but technically accurate... word."

IZZY

"I see," they said again, sounding regretful. "He's very charismatic, the demon. I suppose you've spoken to him."

COYOTE

"Somewhat. Have you?"

IZZY

"Extensively."

COYOTE

"Well, that's fucking fascinating," Mishka said, sitting up a little straighter. "How the fuck? Why?"

IZZY

Bee looked at him for a moment, considering. "He's a sleep demon, of sorts. A demon of dreams. We've spoken in dreams."

COYOTE

Mishka kept his face smooth to hide his excitement. "Well, yes. Naturally. I am curious, though. He typically initiates these dreams with people, does he not? Why would he initiate contact so extensively with you?"

IZZY

"I requested it," Bee said. "Out of concern for Sam."

COYOTE

Mishka nodded slowly. "That's interesting to me. Sam said he didn't have any other friends."

IZZY

They frowned a little. "Unfortunately, that doesn't surprise me. He didn't enjoy our time together. He gets very ... defensive."

COYOTE

Mishka didn't say anything. He came here to bullshit around and figure out who this person was and what they wanted with Sam, but the hair on the back of his neck was beginning to stand up. He leaned back and just looked at Bee.

IZZY

"The demon," they said, looking at him intently. "Has it won you over?"

COYOTE

"I'm not interested in the demon. I'm interested in Sam."

IZZY

"If you're interested in his well-being, you should be interested in separating him from the demon."

COYOTE

"Why?"

IZZY

"It's using him. Manipulating him to get to our world."

COYOTE

"Seems like a racist assumption," Mishka said. "Maybe it loves him."

IZZY

"It's the embodiment of pride," Bee said. "It loves itself."

COYOTE

"People can love themselves and also love other things," Mishka said, and gestured at himself.

IZZY

They smiled slightly. "A valid point, but not, I'm afraid, applicable to this situation. Demons are built differently from you and I and Sam. Creatures like Pride -- Sins -- they have an inherent nature. Pride's nature isn't to be capable of loving other things. It loves that it can trick people into believing it loves them; it loves to think of itself as kind and benevolent; but its nature is to be self-centered in all things."

COYOTE

"Indeed," Mishka said. "So suppose the demon wants to think it loves Sam, and it wants to think it's benevolent, but it's just feeding its own ego. Suppose that's what's happening, right? Let's follow your theory and see where it takes us."

IZZY

"Mm?"

COYOTE

"Suppose that's true," Mishka said. "What's it matter? Isn't the important thing that Sam's happy? Am I supposed to tell him the monster doesn't really love him so he should get away from it? He'd be broken. Miserable. Or he'd push me away."

IZZY

"The important thing," Bee said gently, "is that Sam doesn't help a genocidal demon reach our plane. Perhaps I've been too callous towards him because of that, and he's turned against me, but I do truly want what's best for him."

COYOTE

"Genocidal," Mishka said.

IZZY

"Yes."

COYOTE

"How so?"

IZZY

"It killed all of its siblings, save the ones who escaped. Perhaps you know that. It's rather, well -- proud of the accomplishment. Terrible creatures, all, of course," they allowed. "It believed them to be underneath it. Unworthy. How do you suppose it feels about the worthiness of our ilk?"

COYOTE

"Every king thinks they're above their people. Every noble. It does not make them genocidal. Gods," Mishka said, "believe they are above people, and they are correct. It does not make them evil."

IZZY

"Every king does not kill all of the other nobility."

COYOTE

"Sure they do. Some of them. I mean, those are the bad ones, but... hm. Hm."

IZZY

"Indeed," Bee agreed.

COYOTE

"He was right, though," Mishka said. "If those things were like Diva-- the Glutton-- they needed to die."

IZZY

"Granted." Bee nodded. "Doubtless there are bad people in the world, as well. Unforgivable ones. That wouldn't make it right to kill every person in the world. Do you know the saying about broken clocks?"

COYOTE

"Are you suggesting some of those demons he killed deserved to live, and he kill them indiscriminately?"

IZZY

"No. I'm suggesting that a genocide of demons is righteous and correct, but a genocide of mortals is not. The broken clock was right once, but on every other second of the day ..."

COYOTE

Mishka tapped his fingers on the table. "Surely he'd agree with you, though. Why do you think he disagrees?"

IZZY

They tilted their head. "Surely he'd agree with me? What cause do you have to believe that?"

COYOTE

"Here's the hiccup for me," Mishka said. "It doesn't sound like you have any cause to believe he does think mortals are beneath him and need to die. Other than him being a demon."

IZZY

They looked at him for a moment.

"Four hundred and eighty-seven nights," they said. "That's how much time I've spent talking to this demon. How many nights have you spent dissecting this creature's motivations? Observing the way it speaks, the way it behaves? Are you very clever, Mishka Bell? Are you clever enough to have made four hundred and eighty-eight nights' worth of study pass by in a brief instant?" They snapped their fingers on the last word, then clasped their hands on the table. "Are you well versed in demonology? Have you spent your many elfin years in cloisters, in libraries, in the field breaking the deals demons have made with unsuspecting mortals, saving souls?

"Or have you met a charming liar," they said, "whose purpose is to trick, and have you thus been tricked?"

COYOTE

Mishka considered this for a long while, watching them closely. Normally he would shrug and say it didn't particularly concern him and walk out to attend to his own business.

But this was about Sam. And the idea this thing was fucking with Sam bothered him.

Bee was starting to make him doubt. And he didn't like that. It made him question the way Pride had held Sam, the way Pride gently roused him and pampered him. It... made him think of Aleksei a bit. And the idea that... Pride wasn't Sam's Hansel, he was Sam's Aleksei, tightened Mishka's gut.

"I don't doubt your expertise," he said quietly. "But I am reluctant to condemn a man-- any man-- for a crime he hasn't committed yet. Even a demon."

IZZY

"I appreciate your moral fiber. Unfortunately, sometimes one must take preventative measures." They tilted their head again. "Although, crimes have already been committed, if you consider the demon's treatment of Sam to be criminal. Do you know their history?"

COYOTE

"Little." Mishka leaned back. He pushed his wine aside. He waved the nearest waiter over, then said, "Can you bring me some coffee? Plain. Black." Once the waiter was gone, he nodded to Bee to continue.

IZZY

They assumed a pleasant smile while the waiter was nearby, then looked more solemn again.

"I expect you'll ask how I know what I'm about to tell you, so I'll remind you, ahead of time -- I'm a paladin. Myself and my fellowship have communed with Lathander, and we've scried at various point in time. We have one or two true seers in our midst. Some things have been confirmed, for what it's worth, by the demon himself. We don't know every detail, but what we've pieced together is this:

"Some eighty years ago, an orc lay dying on the battlefield. He had a vision of a demon, who attempted to make a deal with him in order to save his life. He refused, having the good sense to not bargain with his soul. Seemingly, Pride found this intriguing; perhaps he was bored, with no more of his siblings to kill. It is, to the best of our knowledge, the first time he ever attempted to make a deal with a mortal.

"Whatever it was that sparked his interest, he pursued that soul, and when it was reincarnated on the mortal plane as a tiefling, he approached her, as well. He took a mortal form -- a much weaker manifestation of himself capable of slipping through the cracks between planes. For a good few years, he carried on some form of relationship with the tiefling, without ever telling her who he was, or who she had been. When she was killed, he killed his mortal form as well; no other mortal life interested him.

"Then, there was Sam -- the next link on the chain of souls stalked by Pride. Sam grew up in destitution in Skyport, cold and starving and alone. We presume that Pride watched him throughout this. Watched him suffer. When, finally, Pride approached him, the demon barraged him with collected memories of his previous life -- of being given devotion and affection by it -- barraged him with the notion that it loved him already, and he loved it."

Bee tilted their head.

"It's a practice called lovebombing. It's well-employed by manipulators."

.

They went on.

"By his own account, he was overwhelmed. He thought it was a nightmare of some sort, as the demon came to him in his dream. It came to him again, repeated the attack, and he fell victim to it." Softly, Bee said, "He was very alone. He had been abandoned before. He was particularly susceptible. I haven't been able to prove that Pride did away with his mother, but I strongly suspect it. Regardless." They shook their head, dismissing it. "He was vulnerable; he made a deal with the demon.

"He was, at the time, living with two friends. A woman named Corinne and a man named Ronan, who were an item, which as you might imagine, left him feeling awkward and left out in his own home. Further isolation. When Pride gave him his demonic powers, they too were overwhelming, and he was unable to control them. Inadvertently, he burned down their home with his companions inside. Further isolation. That, too, is a tactic used by manipulators such as Pride -- cutting off any potential support or help, any outside voices that might warn the victim away.

"No one is trustworthy, Pride whispered in Sam's ear. No one cares for you. No one but me.

"Those are the demon's crimes."

COYOTE

Mishka felt very cold. Partway through the conversation, he took out a pencil and paper and began jotting brief notes. He wanted to debrief with Goro, later, and tell him everything that had happened. He wanted to make sure he remembered all the facts and everything Bee said.

When Bee was done, he slipped his hands inside cloak, hunching over, and didn’t say anything.

It all sounded true. Mishka had a lot of experience with shit like this. It sounded like something Mishka himself might have done, twenty years ago. It sounded like what Aleksei did to him.

I love you. No one else loves you. People are terrible, and you are broken, but I love you.

Sam said— several days ago— that people were terrible, but it didn’t matter, because they had each other. He’d said it to comfort Mishka, at the time, but in retrospect it felt almost... sinister.

Mishka swallowed. He tried to hide his distress. He wasn’t sure he succeeded.

IZZY

Bee gave him a moment.

COYOTE

“If that’s true,” Mishka said, then paused a very long time.

Motherfucker. If that was true, the fuck was Mishka going to do about it? God. Fuck. Motherfucking fuck.

IZZY

"It is true," Bee said, calmly. "I understand that Sam is your friend. Maybe you would have more luck in speaking with him than I did -- before I understood the scope of the situation, I made mistakes in my handling of it. But I had him for three years, and I wasn't able get through to him. At this point, my priority is to contain him. It's to keep him from causing any damage on the demon's behalf. I will keep him as happy as I can, and when his soul is reincarnated again, my priority is to watch out for that soul so that Pride is unable to get its hooks in again."

COYOTE

Mishka considered this. He rubbed his head with his hands. The waiter brought him coffee, and Mishka tucked his pencil behind his ear and turned over his notes so they couldn’t be read. He drank the coffee.

“For what it’s worth,” he said, “I believe that you believe what you’re saying, and you aren’t here for some... nefarious purpose.”

IZZY

"I appreciate that."

COYOTE

“What are you going to do?”

IZZY

"I don't think it would be wise of me to tell you my plans," they said regretfully. "You might just tell Sam."

COYOTE

“That’s true,” Mishka said briefly. “I might.” Probably wasn’t going to, though. Motherfucker.

Killed Sam’s mother. God. Fuck. Damn. Maybe his friends, too. What had Sam said? He killed them by setting a fire? And Sam looked so broken when he said that. Mishka swallowed back bile.

“You had him for three years,” Mishka said. “What does that mean?”

IZZY

"When we found him -- my fellowship -- we held him in our sanctuary. He was willing, at first, though not, I'll admit, after some time."

COYOTE

“He said he was in an insane asylum. That you guys?”

IZZY

"No. We recovered him from the asylum."

COYOTE

“And you’re going to take him back there,” Mishka said. “To... contain him.”

IZZY

"If necessary. It's kinder than death," they said, with some distaste for their own words. "We'll sedate him. He'll be asleep as much as possible. He'll be with his demon."

COYOTE

Mishka swallowed, feeling ill. He drank more coffee, leg jiggling under the table. “You know I can’t let you do that. I’m not going to be on your side about that.”

IZZY

"What alternative would you suggest?"

COYOTE

“I’m uncertain yet. Sometimes situations like this are complex. Sometimes they require... watching, and waiting. Moving little pieces. What happens if the demon gets into this world? Can you stop it, then?”

IZZY

"There's already one in the world that we've been unable to find and eradicate." Bee looked grim. "We're not keen on letting it happen again."

COYOTE

“That seems to imply you could, perhaps, eradicate it if you could find it.”

IZZY

"Yes."

COYOTE

Mishka felt a cold, calm focus he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Then I think I know what I’m going to do,” Mishka said.

IZZY

"Do you?"

COYOTE

“Yes,” Mishka said. “Contact me if you need anything. I would be curious to hear what you have to say or if you need help with anything. Until then... consider me half-convinced. I am a cautious man.”

IZZY

"I won't need help with anything, but thank you. Tell Sam I'm in Skyport, if you like," they said. "It might scare him off. Buy more time."

COYOTE

“If he was convinced to stop. Would you leave him alone? Sam, I mean.”

IZZY

"Yes. My main concern is keeping the demon off of our plane. I ..." They hesitated, for the first time. "I would like to help him, and get him safely away from it. I don't think that I can, anymore. I'll take the loss."

COYOTE

“You could let the demon into this plane. Then kill it. Permanently.”

IZZY

"You must understand that containing or killing Sam would be the path of less resistance."

COYOTE

“I’m not a path-of-least-resistance kinda guy,” Mishka said.

IZZY

Bee tilted their head, considering Mishka. "Suppose we allow the powerful demon that killed almost all of the other powerful demons into our world, and my order isn't able to kill it. We're not able to fully estimate just how powerful it is. Suppose it wipes all of us out because we chose to not incapacitate one warlock."

COYOTE

“Yeah, I see your point,” Mishka said. “You do what you’re going to do. I’m not gonna let you hurt Sam, though. I get why you’re going to. It’s... probably the morally correct answer. But I’m choosing to be wrong.”

IZZY

"I think that's a respectable position to take," Bee said gently. "I'll try to keep him safe."

COYOTE

Mishka finished his coffee. “Well. Good luck. Not with the catching Sam thing. But... good luck.”

IZZY

They nodded, and slid out of the booth.

"I hope you're able to save him before I have to."

[END]