The Rogue and the Devil (Dorei)

[Dorei]

Thankfully, Dorei's paralysis would not last long. It was only shortly after he began shutting down that Magdalene did the opposite, opening her eyes and unplugging herself from the wall. He looked up as he heard the noise of her unplugging, and stared back at her in the eye when she knelt down next to him. The masters had always wanted to be looked at... Looking away always ended in pain. Habits trained in over two hundred years didn't die easily...

"A-alright... I'm sorry..." He had no idea how else to respond to her. He felt like he'd done something wrong, getting up to try and make breakfast... As she went to make it for him, he crawled back up onto the couch, and waited. Being allowed, even told to rest like this was something that felt both incredible and bizarre, after a life of being incredibly overworked. Even the weakest of demons was far more durable than a normal human... If that weren't true, he would have died before he was twenty years old, just from being worn out.

When the meal was done, Dorei took it, expressing his gratitude. "Thank you..." After a moment, he decided... If he wasn't supposed to be a slave anymore, he should at least try and act like it. If he bothered Magdalene, he would apologize and stop talking. "This... Is new to me. I must have been too young to remember, last time someone else cooked a meal for me... It can't have been more recently than two hundred years ago..."

[ARX-68 Magdalene]

"Two hundred years? Well, I'm not that old, but that surely must have taken its toll on you somewhat. You look veritably pooped." Magdalene sighed, yawning and doing some stretches to the side. Dorei had gladly taken the meal this time, which was a stark contrast to his hesitation earlier, with the medicine. Magdalene looked about and wondered if she may make a new dosage of the medicine again, but decided against doing so. "In any case, Mister, I kinda like you. I'll take care of you until you're able to function properly as a normal person... or, well, incubus, as I can make you out to be, anyway. I don't want you to stray to the way of crime simply because you were treated like horse manure," Magdalene said, making a hole in her right arm and pouring what appeared to be some sort of red substance into the vat again, and sprinkled some powders into it before pushing a button and letting the vat mix the contents once more. After a few moments of soft humming and whirring, Magdalene stopped the machine and scooped up the red concoction into a small glass, and gave the glass to Dorei. "Alright, hopefully this medicine won't taste completely repulsive, you did a pretty good job of trying to hide your disgust of the grape medicine I designed but I could still see it from a mile away, I am after all designed to detect these things. So I tried to go for something a bit... more fleshy. And meaty. Hopefully it works out, neh?" Magdalene smiled.

[Dorei]

"Taken its toll? I... Do not know. I don't know anything else, really... I've never thought about it." He fell silent, taking a moment to eat a few bites of his food. After a moment, he looked back up at Magdalene. "Do you... Do you know what it's like to be without pain? I... Never have. Not for a moment. I... I've heard of being numb. Would..." He stopped. How could he even talk like this? He felt he was expected to... Were it not for that, he would have remained silent.

He looked back at his food and continued eating, but was startled by something that Magdalene said. "You... Like me? I... How can...?" Worthless... Useless... Deserving to be crushed like an insect. That was all the masters had ever said he was... But Magdalene liked him? How could she...? ...Everything she told him was a contradiction to everything he'd ever known. He couldn't reconcile it.

Not feeling the need to point out that the was a "normal incubus" functioned would have been a turn to crime, Dorei spoke no more, turning back to his food and not looking up from it. Yet... He could not bring himself to finish the meal. It was just so much more than he'd ever been allowed. Just the single plate of it seemed like a feast to him. He simply stared at it, until Magdalene came over to him with more medicine.

"I... I see. Thank you." If his masters would have seen such weakness on his part, it would have been jumped upon viciously... Magdalene's design was impressive indeed.

He swallowed the medicine, noticing that the flavor was much less disagreeable, even a bit pleasant. His stomach still didn't seem to like it, but at least it was less violent about it this time...

Dorei actually wasn't in a great deal of pain anymore. While it was still beyond the normal aches and sores that were often left behind from his abuse, it was less than the strikes of the mistress's whip. In fact, he actually was visibly better, compared to last night, if only a bit. The recovery would have been incredible on a human, really.

[ARX-68 Magdalene]

"Hmm, hmm, don't thank me yet. You're still not fully recovered," Magdalene said with a soft, almost comforting tone that she tried to whir up from her database of sounds and gizmos. "By the way, I highly suggest you finish those meat strips I've made for you. If you don't like them, you should say so, because those things will help ya feel a little better. I mean you look like you haven't eaten anything substantial since... Uh, forever!" she said, taking the now empty glass and moving over to a sink near the machine to wash the glass and then return it to its proper place. If Dorei had bothered to look at Magdalene as she moved about, he would have noticed that Magdalene was clearly not of flesh, she was clearly some sort of mystical automaton (which she technically was, due to the magicalness of the ~*~ARM Terminal~*~). How he would react to that was none of Magdalene's concern though, she was focused on Dorei's recovery so perhaps he could help her get to the bottom of this mystery. "By the way, when you do feel better, would you mind helping me get to the bottom of the burning down of your mistress' manor? It would be most appreciable, though I understand if you do not wish to help me undertake that endeavour." she continued as she started to clean the machine with a damp rag.

[Dorei]

"Oh, I do like them... It's just, I'm full..." The response Dorei gave to Magdalene might have been somewhat surprising. After all, he hadn't even eaten half of the serving she'd given him. "It's so much more than I'm used to... But I can try and eat some more if you say so..." The masters had always thrown away their leftovers rather than allow him to have any. Now though, he began eating some more, forcing himself to keep going even once he was feeling stuffed. Soon enough, his plate was clean.

When he was done, he looked back up, and at Magdalene. She looked... Strange, in better light. She clearly was neither human nor any sort of demon he'd ever heard of... She'd mentioned that she'd been created to serve the purposes of man... A golem of some sort then? Were there now such constructs with minds of their own? The creations of mankind were beyond what he had realized...

When Magdalene asked him another question, Dorei paused, unsure how to answer. She was really asking him, and not just playing with him... But how did he feel about it? He felt no attachment to the masters, only fear... Yet, they were dead now, so he was not beholden to them. At the same time... "I have no other purpose I might be set to... I will help you in your search for the truth."

[ARX-68 Magdalene]

"Splendid! Then, I look forward to working with you. I'm sure that together, we'll get to the bottom of this, neh?" Magdalene smiled as she took the now empty plate and started to wash it quickly before shoving it somewhere. She stretched and looked about. "How well are you feeling? I'd like to go out and do some work right now if you're up to it. My superiors will be wondering what I'm doing eventually, especially if they have another assignment for me." she continued on and turned to face Dorei once more. It must be a pretty shoddy experience to be treated as a slave for that long, Magdalene could tell that the effects of it certainly showed in the poor demon... She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. After all, for most of his life, he had been serving complete douchebags... And now that he was free, he had little idea of the true meaning of "freedom." Then again, neither did Magdalene, she was under the control of Sennou Corporation, she was just a tool to them. But, the droid studied the behavior of man so that she could one day be treated as an equal. Maybe.

[Dorei]

"Yes... I'm sure we can find the truth." Dorei affirmed what Magdalene had said, even as he wondered how they might go about it... All he knew of investigation was bits and pieces he'd read in fiction, which was few and far between. Even if there was some sort of evidence at the manor, how would they find or understand it? Or... Perhaps there might have been a witness? Even if there was, how would they know who...?

"O-oh, I'm fine..." Dorei responded instantly upon being asked his condition. However, he then clarified. "I'm used to far worse, so it shouldn't impede me..." He paused. "O-oh, we'll need to go outside, yes? There might be strangers present? I shouldn't let them see me like this..." Suddenly, he was in human form, though without clothes. "Um... Are there any spare clothes I could use? I recall that it's frowned upon to go without those in public..."

[ARX-68 Magdalene]

Magdalene didn't really care that Dorei was naked in his human form. She shuffled about the room looking for some extra spare clothes for him to wear and had to go inside one of the rooms further in to search through a wardrobe. Eventually, she found some plain, reasonably 'basic' clothing for Dorei to wear. She procured a pair of pants, a long-sleeved woollen shirt and a fleece jacket in case it got cold outside. Well, it was November, so the option to take the jacket was there. Magdalene held the clothes in her hands and offloaded them by Dorei's naked body, as she did so, she could see his form, well, needless to say, she saw the results of his abuse pretty easily. "Well, Dorei, here are some spare clothes I found. I don't think it would be wise for you to go without clothing on. Not only will people look at you funny, but it may also be cold." Magdalene said softly with some concern, and stretched, turning around. "Go ahead and get dressed. I ain't looking." Magdalene wanted to be polite about things, even if ultimately she didn't really care. She was still just the intercourse droid at 'heart,' or lack thereof in this case, and such things as nakedness didn't mean much to her.

[Dorei]

Dorei knew the concept of modesty, and he knew that the masters hadn't wanted him to see them naked when they weren't in the middle of a session with him... Even so, others seeing him naked meant nothing to him. Or... Perhaps it did. Just a bit, suppressed... He didn't even realize the feeling welling up inside him, why he felt scared... But with the end of pain, the scars would surface in his mind. Nevertheless, it did feel odd that Magdalene would turn away from him while he dressed... He'd never had such a thing been given to him before.

After he pulled the clothes on, the two of them left, and walked back to the mansion. Though it was early, the streets weren't entirely empty, and those they passed couldn't help staring at the two at least a bit. In Dorei's case, it might well have been due to the burns that were entirely visible on his face even in human form. The attention was more than uncomfortable for the young incubus... But it would soon enough be over, when they arrived at the ashen remains of the mansion.

There were a few police cars parked in front, and their occupants appeared to be poking through the ashes, investigating for any evidence there might be... It didn't seem as if the two would likely make much progress on their own.Dorei looked up at Magdalene. "What... What should we do now?"