"Oh look, it talks." Lucille regarded her quarry with little concern and she hardly relented in her stomping barrage. It was annoying that this creature had some nerve to hold off the boot to her throat. The only thing stopping Lucille from stomping her head into a red spray was Xirphi's pathetic attempt of appeasement. So she listened, raising an eye as Xirphi attempted to split her mouth and prove her point. All that happened was more seconds of her time being wasted and she stared down at the lizard.
"A messy eater and a liar. You know just how to catch my attention, don't you," she said, slamming the heel of her boot into the side of Xirphi's throat.
This was not an ideal situation for the lizard, especially considering that she was quite literally being kicked silly by Lucile's endless barrage. Yet, she would endure for as long as it took to formulate a plan out of the situation. The heel made Xirphi flinch, wincing as she struggled to shift herself into a position so she could speak some more, however trying to move herself or the boot was rather difficult as the lizard had little space and found that pushing up on a boot was rather difficult when one was on the ground. Then, she came to the conclusion that there was no real way out of this without some form of fighting spirit. Kicking her leg up, the devourer attempted to scratch at Lucile's back and allowing her head to try and snag the foot of the Black Goat.
"Hmm?" Something akin to a gnat glanced over her back and she turned to see a free leg trying to fight back. It hardly made contact with its intended target but it did distract Lucille enough for her foot to be caught by Xirphi. Lucille looked down to where her foot was caught, staring blandly before wretching it free from Xirphi's grip.
"You're stubborn for a newbie. But I suppose that makes sense. You really shouldn't be. After all, didn't you know you're being punished? Everyone needs to take their punishment when they break a rule," she said, eyes narrowing almost like a predator.
"I call it a winning attitude," Xirphi coughed, allowing herself a few moments to breathe before meeting Lucile's narrowed gaze with her own not-so-narrowed, nervous gaze. Xirphi could not help but do another nervous smile as she looked upon Lucile. Not wanting to give up the souls she worked so hard for, though really it wasn't that hard since a lot of the demons were more like extremely wet paper when her tongues were out, Xirphi attempted once more at her bargaining technique,
"I wasn't lying when I was talking about my tongues. I just can't seem to get them out now and it's actually bothering me more than me being powerless to stop you," she explained once more making her strange face,
"It is really bothersome, honestly this is punishment enough."To this, Lucille actually moved away from Xirphi, moving over to her parasol. Grip held to the handle, she twisted it violently deeper into the lizard's tail before leaning forward atop it with all her weight.
"You're missing a very important factor in this little chat we're having right now," she said, resting her palms on the parasol's handle.
"What would be in it for me if I let you go right now?""A friend? Someone to help you torture anyone? A mobile cleanup crew? You name it I can do it, unless it involves vegan food. Can't stomach that shit," Xirphi suggested with her trademark nervous smile as she tried her best not to react to the pain. Her attempt was however feeble as there was a very noticeable eye twitch.
"I feed all my friends to my daughter. She's also my cleanup crew. No, no, there just doesn't seem to be anything you could possibly offer me." Lucille punctuated each of her words with more, violent twists of her parasol. By now that tail was no doubt a bloodied and pulsing mess, though that was hardly Lucille's concern. No, what did she catch her attention was the crude statement made by the one trapped.
"Oh? Don't like eating your veggies I see. Tell me, what's stopping me from ramming some flowers down your gullet right now.""My trademark smile? Perhaps my adorable exterior?" Xirphi went on, not bothering to look at the bloody mess that was her tail, it was better that way since she couldn't see the extent of the damage. Though the soul shaking pain was something that was hard for her to ignore, let alone keep her composure towards,
"Plus I have a lot more to offer than what meets the eye, like I said, I can do many things!" Her will to continue on with trying to plea out of the situation was something to commend, of course nearly any demon of her level would do the same thing.
"Or I could just leave you here." Lucille let her words sink in, observing the lizard's reaction. It was doubtful she'd be able to unlodge herself from that parasol; not unless Xirphi was willing to amputate her own tail. Cruel, perhaps, but tis was the nature of Hell.
"Of course, we'll need to do something about that stomach of yours. And those tongues. Maybe a muzzle will do since I don't intend to spend all my time dirtying my heels with a worm like you. I'm sure some demon will find pity and release you. Maybe."A look of horror came upon her face as the mention of a muzzle sunk into the mind of the lizard, horrified memories of the angels binding her and purging her of the souls she had eaten.
"No- no- no-," were the only words the lizard repeated until her mind caught up,
"Please, no. That'll mean I won't be able to eat and if I can't eat then what happened here will just happen again! I'll do anything for you, souls are the only thing that keep me fed! What do you want?! A promise? Eternal servitude?... My body?" It was one last crude attempt, but tapping into her mother's side of the family, Xirphi did her best to strike what would count as a seductive pose.
"This really is pathetic." Lucille stared down at the lizard almost out of pity....or maybe it was misconstrued sadism. Once again Xirphi pleaded and begged and once again Lucille answered with a wagging finger.
"It's always about you isn't it. All of this sounds like the selfish wants of a lizard who didn't realize who ruled this place. Why again am I catering to your needs when you're the one being punished?" Xirphi didn't need to answer because Lucille was already moving away, fully intent to just leaving her to rot where she was.
A sound almost equivalent to that of joy came out of the lizard's mouth, if she could just tap into the power of her devoured souls then she would definitely be able to free herself in some strange way. At least she would no longer of to continue to deprave herself any further than she already had, at least the lesson she learned was that being pathetic actually paid. Xirphi scrambled to her feet, still not bothering to look back at the damage had been caused to her tail. Her celebration may be premature, but she relished the fact that she may actually live to go forth and devour more souls if she could free herself.
"Oh, that reminds me." Something rumbled beneath the ground, shattering its surface. Made manifest were long strings of vegetation, each one thick enough to hold a bull. At once they forced themselves into Xirphi's maw, crawling down her throat as if to block it up. The ends of these very same strings snapped harshly around Xirphi's snout, keeping her jaws sealed in an effective muzzle. It was a shame; had Xirphi not exclaimed in joy, the Black Goat might not have remembered her promise.
The only sounds that Xirphi made in response was her muffled screams and gags as she attempted to get free of the wretched vegetables. This was cruel and sad, she was a sobbing, screaming mess as she attempted to force her acidic bile up but to no avail. Lucile's blockage was still keeping her powers down.
