#(I won't be able to tackle writing anything till like mid-May if I'm lucky)

[bawdybooster]

Of Service to the Imperium

“…and then, there’s the issue of you.”

You froze, feeling the cold serpentine gaze of the lamia interrogator fall upon your rope-bound body.  She was quite an intimidating figure, tall and elegant in her uniform, with features looking to have been chiseled from the purest marble to form a perfectly threatening force for the Lamia Imperium.  Long, silver hair flowed from her head and draped itself down her backside.  Her thick white coils crowded around in the dungeon, not wrapped around you just yet but certainly eager to grind you to dust once the order was given.

“Me…?” you asked meekly.

“Yes,” she hissed ruefully. “You.  We don’t take kindly to Imposters in our ranks, and I don’t have to remind you that Transformation Elixirs are outlawed among civilians for a good reason.”

You blushed.  The merchant who’d sold you those elixirs had promised that no one would notice so long as you kept on top of them.  You would have been indistinguishable from any other Serpentine Sentries.  Awesome, Athletic, Appealing – blessed with a scaly tail flowing from below your waist, nobody would have been able to notice.

But the way you hissed out an uncharacteristic “Reporting for Duty, Sssir,” to the captain spelled out plain as day how you didn’t belong.  All well-trained soldiers of the Imperium had gone to great lengths to remove the hiss of the common lamia from their tongue, and anyone whose tongue so much as hissed a second longer than necessary could only mean one of two things — they had slipped through the coils of their instructor’s grasp, or they were simply no real lamia.

Before you could hiss another word in, a snare of coils had descended upon you from the guards and dragged you away to the dungeons, where you now found yourself before your cold interrogator, your Transformation Elixir having now worn off and left you quite small in comparison to the well-built woman before you.

“Well?” She growled, “What reason have you to be here, walker?”

You gulped, overcome with embarrassment as you realized you had never admitted this to anyone aloud before.

“I… want to be one of you.”

The Interrogator's frozen figure stirred, no longer cold from spite and distrust but from unspoken awe at what she was hearing.  For a moment, her forlorn lips seemed to part in awe, before her fangs gritted together in a hissing snarl as her face twisted into rage.

From the walls, her white coils thrust forward, binding tightly around your body with an angry squeeze.  Her hands descended upon your neck, fingers drawing claws as she threatened to tear you to shreds here and now after the words she had just heard.  “What?!”  She snarled, “Isss thisss sssome sssort of joke?!”

Your eyes bulged, lips trembling in fear as she held your life in clawed hands.  Babbles of denial spilled forth from you, desperate to be heard before the binding loops of scale and muscle drew tighter and pulled what little breath you had from your lungs.  Amidst this panic, you understood that this was only right – that as the Imperium had explained when they conquered your lands, their all-knowing hiss and yes speaking the truth of their awesome might to your people, that this was the rightful place of the lamia.  Atop a mound of coils reminding the world of the order and peace they brought to these chaotic realms.  And as you lay there, bound at the mercy of the Interrogator’s coils, something shifted in her touch.  Her desire was still there, clutching to your trembling life, but no longer was it a desire to tear you to pieces – it was a desire to know what you said.

Her clawed hands left your neck, permitting you to gasp for breath.  “Then explain,” She ordered.  “Now.”

Something in her voice compelled you to speak, a hypnotic tone not unlike that of the missionaries who spread the gospel of the Lamia Imperium.  You told everything to her: Of how your life had been a dull, aimless routine of farming before the Imperium arrived.  Of how their presence had enlightened you to your rightful place within their coils.  Of how the thought of proving all your worth to them had driven you to obsession, to the point of putting you in the unfortunate position you now found yourself in.

And as you spoke, stirred by the eager duty to be of service to the Lamia Imperium, a change stirred in the Interrogator.  Her chiseled scowl melted from its cold, bleak exterior, and in its place curled a serpentine smile – one that no longer saw an insult to very Imperium in your form, but rather, potential.

Your babbling words stopped as the coils surrounding you gave a gentle hug, white scales holding close to you as they shifted about you, not unlike a reassuring massage.  A brief, unbound moan danced off your tongue as coils slithered over your form, before drawing tight to draw your attention back to the Interrogator before you, her coy smile accompanied by a mischievous look in her eyes.

“Well,” she tutted, “I had no idea you were so enamored with the Imperium.  It’s not often one such as yourself becomes so eager to serve a greater being.  I apologize for my barbs, earlier.  The Imperium will be very pleased to hear of your dedication.”

A dazed smile spread across your cheeks, the Interrogator’s tail stroking your head like a prized pet.  “Th… Thank you,” you murmured, “I live to–”

You gagged as her coils wound tight around your throat, her hands taking your head into their grasp.  Two thumbs placed themselves upon your lips, bringing your mouth shut as the Interrogator hushed what thoughts you had in your mind.  “Do not speak, little morsel,” she hissed in a soothing voice.  “I want to get a good look at you~”

Before you could say a word, your mind froze as her hands drew your gaze up, and directly into her spiraling eyes.  Beams of pure white and deep black swirled forth into your eyes, ensnaring your mind as they wrapped themselves around your thoughts and brought everything under control – her control.  You had heard tales of how the lamias rose to power, of how their ability to dominate the minds of lesser beings had enabled their rapid expansion across the lands.  You had always thought it an exaggeration of how they had convinced so many to side with their amassing power, a tale spun by dissidents who spoke ill of their ways of persuading the mind to see and hear things as they saw them.  You had never imagined it to be so… so literal.

Gentle hands cradled your head as gentle coils cradled your body, permitting the Interrogator to better examine you.  Her watchful eye looked over every inch of you, your own eyes spiraling into the bliss her hypnotic vision had granted you vision to see.  A stricken gasp erupted as her claws dexterously traced your form, ripping you from the rope that had previously bound you, before you were silenced once more as she traced a spiral over your steady heart.

She stood you up and removed her coils from your body.  You felt awfully bare, unbound from her embrace for her to witness in full.  You perked up as you heard the sound of her chuckling before your mind unraveled, a resonant SNAP! drawing her spirals out from your mind and bringing you back to consciousness before her.

The two of you stood there alone in the dungeon.  Expecting.  Awaiting.  Taking in and studying the sight of each other for minutes that felt like hours.  Her white coils churned about silently, surrounding herself in powerful might that could easily break you into no more than another plaything.  You fully expected them to, yet knew not why she seemed to resist doing so.

Beneath the loops of pure, snow-colored scale, she stood on edge, coiled up as much in her upper body as in her tail as her arms crossed to draw a judgmental stare out from her chiseled face.  Despite having left you untouched for the past few minutes, you felt entirely trapped by her.

“You said you wish to be of service, yes?”  She finally said, her head turning to side-eye you as if to better study you.

“Yes.”  You answered.

“Then your wish is granted.”  she mused.  “You have violated the Imperial Code, the punishment for which is eternal servitude to the Lamia Imperium.  A being of your… splendor would find great pleasure as a Courtesan for the Emperor’s Den, and I am certain your mind and body would enjoy being broken into blissful little fragments by the Imperial Elite.”

Your legs trembled, a wounded mewl silenced behind closed lips at the thought of being hypnotized and coiled up as a squeeze toy for some of the most powerful lamias in the lands.

“It is my duty,” the Interrogator went on, “to Interrogate those who violate the Code and, in due time, discern what the suitable punishment would be for them.  Under normal circumstances… your fate would have already been sealed, and I would have drawn you before the Magistrates for judgment.  However… my mind dwells on the motive of your crime – You wanted to be one of us.”

You freeze as the Interrogator’s coils sprawl out toward you, taking you in her binds and squeezing close as she draws you before her.

“I can arrange that this be done, permanently.  Our Scholars have been eager to find ways to provide a surplus to our armies without wasting precious lamia blood in a futile draft, and I have a feeling you may be all too eager to subject yourself to adequate… research for the task.”

You wince as her hands reach up to your face, before gently cupping your cheeks and drawing your chin upward.  But it all sounds so tempting.  The thought of it all – becoming a part of the Imperium, becoming a lamia, sounds too good to be true.  She’s up to something.  You just know it.

She draws your focus up to her gaze, and your eyes break into an awestruck stare as once more, her black and white spirals loop out from her eyes to ensnare your mind.“All I ask is that you look into my eyes, and tell me what you really want~”