Illusionaire Merui

Name: Merui Age: 23 Gender: Female Eye Color: Yellow Occupation: Herbal alchemist living alone on the outskirts of a village in Southern Agrestia, next to the forest for better privacy and reagent foraging. Formerly part of an adventuring party where she earned the title "Illusionaire," casting mirages and hexes meant to confuse and disorient. In combat, she would even the playing field for Selen to take the brunt of actual combat as setup to her compatriot's execution. Mostly defenseless on her own, not having access to any sort of destructive techniques. Before she met Selen and during their duo days before Lisette, she was a professional provocateur using her magic for racketeering and cons that would get them into hot water occasionally. Those days are behind her now that she's settled down though. Appearance: Standing at 5'8", Merui is a little above average for a woman. Fluffy, stark white hair meant Merui was always one to turn heads, accentuating it with magic that was purpose made to keep people's attention one way or another at her whim. Toying with the light that way, turning up the darkness in another, manipulating the wavelengths and perceptions so that things look the way she wants them or don't look like anything at all. Knowing a thing or two about contrast, black robes cut tantalizing lines where it's been deliberately cut down to her navel, expose large swaths of pale skin deep past the cleavage of small B-cup breasts. Hip vents are cut into either side too, exposing curvy hips and and the ties of black string underwear below while the gown-like make leaves her sweaty armpits exposed underneath a dark cloak with white fur trim. Numerous belts and pouches lace across her hips while strappy black leather bracers snake over her wrists. A black choker, leather boots, and a wide witch's hat round out her visage. History: Meeting mostly through happenstance, Selen and Merui were a two-man group that often found themselves in some sort of trouble here and there through the latter's schemes. While reasonably successful, it wasn't until they adopted a fledgling adventurer, Lisette, into their ranks that they truly made a name for themselves; inexperienced but a wealth of potential with her unique strain of magic, Lisette served as a lightening pole that they quickly oriented themselves around as mentors, both in and out of missions. Her ability to intercept and shut down other sources of magic meant she was their trump card whenever they went toe to toe with even powerful demons while Selen took them head on and Merui funneled foes where needed to shape the battlefield in their favor. Though, everything came falling down about half a year ago when a quest saw them venturing into a particular cave. Unbeknownst to them, it was the lair for the "Devogate" species: tentacle-like parasites that persist by entrapping unsuspecting women and relentlessly using them as seedbeds. The three adventurers were no exception, becoming victims of the budding Devogate nest as they were relentlessly raped and converted into breedbags for an expanding lair. Over the two or so months they were captured, all three experienced an impossible hell of pleasure as they were forced to give birth nonstop as their ovaries were pushed to the limits and plundered to deliver well over a hundred tentacles each, every one carrying part of their human mother's genetic code. Those offspring went on to capture and kill numerous other adventurers while the trio were still attached to a flesh wall for repeated breeding, continuing on until a larger group of adventurers and victimized civilians banded together to exterminate the menace. Thankfully, the trio was rescued in the midst of an indiscriminate burn campaign. While reclaiming their memories and sanity was slow after being literally fucked into oblivion, they have all made extremely good progress on that front while settling back in a town in their native South Agrestia. Still carrying different sorts of trauma, they're nearly all back to the right state of mind. Nearly. Their bodies on the other hand have been irreversibly changed to fit the needs of the now-vanquished Devogate nest, violated and altered by rigorous pheromone treatment that kept them lulled into a euphoric haze while their brains were physically rearranged by thin feelers that infested their heads, solidifying their place as tentacle breeders in a way that they were never meant to outlive. Personality: A teasing edge inherent to someone practiced in keeping control lines Merui's voice, amused at her own slyness even as she prefers to keep to herself now. Has grown to be a loner since her capture and rescue, a scarcer sight in the village even if she isn't particularly unfriendly when somebody does come to her for whatever reason. Despite knowing it's wrong and that she should be ashamed of herself, Merui has actually become sympathetic of the Devogate and, humiliatingly enough, looks back on the violation she went through with longing. It's a betrayal of both herself and her party and she knows it, agonizing over the dissonance; not wanting to hurt either Selen or Lisette, Merui is diligent in pretending to be grief-stricken over their shared trauma while secretly fetishizing it. Sexual: Merui would have been the one to give the Devogate the most trouble, that is if she wasn't almost immediately gassed to near death on aphrodisiacs before having her brain skewered through the ears. What followed her petty resistance alongside her friends was a depth of pleasure that shattered her perception entirely. And unlike her comrades, she greedily accepted every second of it, even when she knew she should have been ashamed or afraid. It wasn't actually the repeated childbirths or having her body messed with whatever which way the tentacles desired that traumatized her. It was the fact that it was ripped away from her without asking while she was in the middle of basking in it. Scouring the remains of the nest, Merui was able to actually find a surviving tentacle which she dutifully keeps hidden away for "de-stressing" sessions she doesn't let anyone know about. Though, she also knows how dangerous it would be to let it breed her (no matter how much she wants that to happen) so she's careful to only let it burrow enthusiastically into her now-trained rear hole to hopefully avoid it growing into a full on nest again. Likes: blowing smoke up people's ass, scams before but honest solitary work now, alchemy, her own handcrafted medicine, noodle fishing, catfish (for the Devogate), pan fried boar with celery Relationships: Although their professional allegiance has dissolved in the face of defeat, Merui still keeps up with her other two party members: Lisette, the youngest of the trio and the fabled "Spell-Slayer" for her invaluable anti-magic craft lives closest to the town center out of lingering anxiety and nightmares that never faded; Selen, the slightly older "Warfarer" who could utilize any weapon with ease as their de facto fighter in gleaming armor, now retired to the farm on the opposite end of the village as she whiles her time away tending the animals and participating in village affairs. Friday night tavern gatherings are a village staple that serves as an excuse for the party to drink together once more, ensuring they still talk despite having sequestered themselves into their own corners. The community at large doesn't resent the trio for their failure, instead looking at them with a mix of pity and respect. While she often associates with them little, the villagers do know her as someone skilled they can seek out on occasion. She is keen that nobody find out she has a Devogate fragment in her residence, especially not her former party members. At the same time, she doesn't want her guilty pleasure to bloom into something truly threatening again.