#you don't deserve hector's brimstone hotness actually

[blackjackkent]

OK, clearly we've got to put the pedal to the metal and get moving on tracking down Gortash, so - early morning in camp, let's get out on the road and--

Oh, Christ, what do YOU want?

"I've had my eye on you. Hot as brimstone, jagged as lightning... and seething like the River Styx. But there's something missing, isn't there? You're hungry for pleasures beyond this plane. Something more satisfying than mortal flesh, blood, and bone."

...Bahahahahaha oh my god. Really?

I can't imagine what Hector could POSSIBLY have done that would give her even remotely this impression, so I am choosing to interpret this as her trying to fuck up Karlach's relationship, since Zariel doesn't actively want her murdered anymore but that doesn't mean Mizora wants to see her happy.

Hector, as usual, is just baffled by the whole conversation.

"I have no idea what you're on about."

"I'm talking of the mundanity of a life ignorant to the thrills of the Nine Hells," she purrs. "Yes... you're curious. Your eyes are lit like raging stars. You want what only I can give you. The ecstasy of agony. The pain of the damned, distilled into pure bliss - beyond every climax you've known. The little death, writ large." She smiles slowly, her eyes drifting over him in a long, lascivious arc. "Smile, and I'll come to you when you put your head down to rest. I will sate your most forbidden lusts." She tilts her head to one side, laughs softly. "Or don't... and know the eternal ache of the unknown and the unanswered."

Hector's eyes are very much not lit like raging stars; he's just sort of staring at her in bewilderment. However, she's not entirely wrong about him being curious.

Much to his own shame, he is only human and she is a creature designed for temptation in every aspect, and what she describes does spark a smidgen of physical response, rather as his moment with Gale in the Weave or with Astarion's teeth in his neck, back in the early part of his adventures, did as well - when he was still newly out in the world and being acutely reminded of the fact that he had a body and it had needs. He is fully capable of giving in to his own curiosity in ill-advised ways, too; in other circumstances... perhaps, he would even listen.

But he has Karlach, and that is enough for him. And Mizora is responsible for far too much misery among his friends for him to even consider the notion.

"Absolutely not," he says flatly.

Her eyes flash for a moment, but then her expression smooths out. "Dear me," she murmurs. "I've overestimated you. Trust me, I shan't be making that mistake again. Ta-ta!"

-----

"You're kidding. Mizora? Mizora wanted to get you in the sack?" Karlach stares at him and looks as if she isn't sure whether to be furious or laugh. "And thought you'd say yes?"

"I'm not sure what she thought," Hector says wryly. His lips twitch. "She said something about me being 'hot as brimstone.'"

"Well, she was right about that," Karlach says, and grins mischievously. "Can't fault her taste, I'll say that much." A slight pause. "You weren't... y'know. Tempted? Right? Not by her?"

Hector draws a breath and lets it out slowly. "What was it you said about Flo? 'If she’d been completely different from who she was, we might’ve been real friends.'"

"Hah..." Karlach lets out a soft bark of a laugh and shakes her head. "Yeah. Get that a lot with the infernal sort..." A pause. "I know I said I'm not the jealous sort - and I'm not, long's we talk about it. But not her. Not her..."

"Never her," Hector agrees firmly. "You can be certain of that."

----

(A/N: Out of curiosity, I did go see what happens if you say yes. As the romance scenes in this game go, it's honestly pretty lackluster; Hector stood on a floating platform in an abyss with Mizora, with different colors of flame around him representing different layers of the Hells they were "moving through," and made suggestive faces while the narrator described him experiencing different flavors of agony and bliss. And then Mizora's clothes vanished and they floated up in the air snuggled together inside her wings while Hector was FULLY CLOTHED, which was a choice. And then they woke up in the barn in camp, she said something about him being "forever marked" by the experience, and then Karlach walked in on them.

The actual most interesting aspect of this was Karlach's response. She is fully too good for this world.

Obviously she was angry - but her first anger was on WYLL's behalf, not her own: "Look, I don't own you. I can't tell you what to do, and I wouldn't. But Mizora? After everything she's done to Wyll? After everything she WOULD do to me if given the chance?"

Nega-Hector explained that his curiosity got the better of him, and Karlach, because she is, again, too good for this world, forgave him. I was 100% sure she would dump him for this. "Ugh. I wish I could say I don't understand. But I know what those fuckers are like. They'll promise you the world, make you believe it too. Then right when you're relaxed, yoink! There goes the rug, right out from under you. I trust you won't make the same mistake twice. Mizora works for Zariel - *pure* evil. We don't need them. We have each other. Ourselves. *Life.* What else could we want?"

Oh, no, Karlach, if Hector ever actually treated you like this, I would WANT you to dump his ass. You deserve better.

Anyway, what a relief that that didn't actually happen. XD )