NC 20: The Choice of Teacher
#20 of November Challenge Stories
Kai Lee has never been the best with socialization with others. He hopes to be better with that, particularly with a meeting coming up that would need more charm than he has. So, he summons an expert.
November challenge for myself, and the last of the 30 prompts that I managed to finish in November.
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The Choice of Teacher
November 20th Prompt: A Succubus Summoned for Social Lessons
Kai Lee had been told that his personal niceties could use elaboration and improvement, should he consider leaving Kusan City. People abroad would not be so inclined to listen to someone that had little in the way of politeness, nor those that would speak abruptly or more laconically. They wished for someone that knew small-talk, that embraced inanities, or so it seemed.
He had no time for the 'education' that a trained speaker would offer him. The snow leopard CEO of K.L. Inc. needed to narrow down his focus and improve himself within a week. Knowing it required supernatural levels of effort was no barrier: he had the contacts needed.
So it was that the wiry feline sat at his desk at the top of his company's headquarters in the city center, a book of black pages, white ink, and red cover spread before him. He traced a line of spidery letters with a white-gloved hand, a gray jacket sleeve hovering over the edge of the page.
"...Simple enough."
The snow-furred cat closed the book, sitting with one hand over the cover. He did not take a deep breath, nor did he brace himself. He merely recited the words that he had read, all while holding a black flame in his mind's eye.
Within two repetitions, a sigil had formed on the floor on the other side of the room. In four, a new presence had entered the room. In six, the sigil had disappeared, replaced with a woman in...surprising attire, to put it mildly.
"Well, well. A CEO for a change," the skunk-shaped succubus said, resting her long, striped tail over her shoulder. "What's it going to be? Floggers and whips for me and bondage for you? Or are you just looking for a girl to throw over your desk for the night? Gotta say. Wouldn't recommend the latter. We have a price."
"All things do. But I do not require your sexual services."
"Don't deal in curses, honey."
"You deal in socialization. I require this."
"...Socialization?" She chuckled, leaning back against the far wall, the 'latex' that she seemed to wear flowing and shifting as if it were alive. "You're sounding like some sort of mad dog."
"Some would describe me so."
"Oooh, some edge on that tone there..."
He had little patience for flirtation. Rarely did he see the point in it. Kai Lee set the book aside, resting his hands on the desk as he often did. He looked at her, directly at her, and she looked back. Not something that others often did, either.
"Look at me," he said.
"I am."
"The way that your people do."
"...Mmm, now I see...You're not entirely real, are you?"
"Incorrect."
"Oh, picky, picky."
"You are summoned, thus contracted. I ask that you speak accurately. Reality is not dependent upon the existence of a soul, nor normal thought processes. As part of your contract, speak accurately, rather than demeaningly."
"You've yet to pay my fee, hon."
"Debatable. You are out of hell. And with a client. Call it a finder's fee."
"...You take some getting used to, but you're alright. Okay. Okay."
The skunk sauntered forward. Kai Lee had little doubt that others would have found her swaying walk engaging and inviting, that they would have followed her fluffy tail down to her hips, and from there to the curves waiting. The implication of hidden depths between her thighs, hardly hidden by whatever it was she wore, would have trapped most.
He had little interest in that. His biology and mind did not work like that.
She conjured a chair of the same material, sitting in it. She put her feet up, but only for a moment, taking them down when he did not stare.
"You really don't have anything in there, do you? Why'd you summon someone like me, then?"
"A succubus charms others. They make the unacceptable acceptable."
"You want me to give you a makeover?"
"No. I want you to show me how you make others forget."
"...Heh. That'll take a while."
"I am a quick study."
"How long we got?"
"Six days."
"Fucking hell, you don't exactly ask for easy jobs, do you?"
"As I said. Quick study. Show me what I need to know."