Étaoin spent most days perfectly obeying Dagon. She wondered when he was going to get bored of her lack of resistance. He'd been trying to push her. Get some kind of response from her. But she bit it all back and held her tongue without him even knowing.
Humiliate herself?
How do you want it done?
Injure herself?
Do you want it cut or bruised?
When she was left alone during the day, she wrote. Two handed, as to make sure that if he ever asked to see what she was writing, she'd be able to present something. She wouldn't be lying. In the meantime, her personal diary helped her keep track of her plans and supplies. It salvaged what was left of her sanity and kept her focused.
If she wasn't writing, she was training. Doing any and every exercise she had room for to maintain at least some of her physique and endurance.
If only he'd been familiar with the vindictiveness of the fae. Their rules.
Assuming she'd be able to leave, at least. Still, those were the kinds of thoughts that kept her going.
At night, she worked towards her escape. Various tools and objects were repurposed and hidden, sometimes in plain sight. It's a good thing that Dagon nor anyone else could actually enter her house to search it. As far as she was aware, no one had a clue about her plans and accumulated tools.
No matter how much she gathered, though, she still missed one critical thing: opportunity. She was well and truly trapped in this glass house without chances to leave it alive. She couldn't prepare and pack air. Technically she was able to leave the glass house at any time. There was a gooey barrier unsealed in the tower. The water pressure would kill her, and even if that didn't do the trick, she was so far underwater that she'd never reach the surface alive.
She missed a critical element.
She couldn't do this alone.
She missed an ally.
Days quickly turned to weeks, which turned into months. Each day an instant made of endless eternities that melted together into a torturous existence.
Most of Étaoin’s rage had reduced to a simmering hatred on the backburner of her mind, while the emotion that took to the forefront was envy. Dagon, Cecaelya, even the octopus servant Zelum.
She envied others for having control over their life. Cecaelya and Zelum still had agency. They were allowed opinions even if they ultimately had to oblige Dagon's whims.
They were allowed privacy. At least she presumed. They were in Dagon's presence often, certainly, but it was clear that they had options and choices as to what to do with their time when not with him.
They were allowed intimacy. As much as Étaoin hated when Cecaelya would get clingy and she and Dagon would just decide to ignore her existence to have their fun right then and there, the sprite couldn't deny that she was lonely. She missed having company, physical or otherwise. Company that treated her like a peer, at least. After all, Dagon treated her like a pet, and everyone else was simply to marvel at her. She was pretty sure other staff had been forbidden to talk to her. She'd tried to.
Part of her knew that it was on purpose, and the grass was greener on the other side. Cecaelya envied her for the attention Dagon gave her. Zelum Dagon would constantly berate and mistreat.
Étaoin hated being part of these castle politics, again. Being freed of them had been one of the few saving graces of being sent here yet here she was entangled in a web of subjugation and transactional loyalties yet again.
Neither of them were going to help her, and there was no one else in her immediate vicinity who could help her. But maybe they didn't need to be.
Dagon had many visitors. Almost daily it was someone or something. Usually it wasn't really important, or it was a common guest. Dagon loved to invite his offspring over, for one, and none of those were particularly special. If anything they were off from bad to worse. It was almost sad.
Seeing another nemesis swim through the gate was worth a second look though. A third when their domain didn't even border the Silver-Echo Sea.
It wasn't the first time Étaoin had met another nemesis. The first time had been Melek-Taus, who had all too eagerly offered and bargained to take home such a nifty little living reminder of home. Étaoin hoped that the serpent would cave to the exuberant amount of gold and magic, but no. All Dagon wanted was an expansion of his territory, and the dragon had not budged on that front. A fun toy was not worth actual land, and as such Étaoin had stayed put.
This time it was Korrigan, which made significantly less sense to the sprite. Such a trip had to have taken a few weeks. Yet here she was, wings serving as a pair of fins as the fiendish woman dressed in a revealing mockery of a mermaid.
At least Étaoin was pretty sure it was Korrigan. She'd only ever seen images of all of the nemeses, though she'd gotten more familiar with them by names, titles and behaviors through Dagon since arriving here.
None of them were to be trusted, of course. Étaoin still couldn't help but hope she was noticed and maybe get an opportunity to get out of here.
As expected of her, Étaoin went to her tower on the desk and knelt down as a way of showing respect.
She still watched the nemesis from the corner of her eyes. Korrigan swam around excitedly before meeting Dagon and the two shared a mutual embrace. “How is my favorite scaly friend~? And who's this~?”
At least she was immediately noticed. She wondered why the nemesis was even here. Why they were so amicable with each other. Despite Melek-Taus having set foot in the castle, there were still clear boundaries and the two obviously did not like each other in spite of the veneer of class.
“Things have been great, darling, especially with your arrival brightening up my castle room even more~!” Dagon responded, releasing the woman from the embrace.
Étaoin didn't like this.
Something about this felt extremely odd and wrong to her.
Not that she was particularly concerned with Cecaelya’s feelings or opinions, but did she know about this?
Her thoughts were pulled back to the present when the nemeses turned to her. Dagon gestured and she bowed in kind. “This is my pet, Étaoin. Though she's actually more my little Bug~.”
“How adorable!” Korrigan cooed excitedly, gently placing her hand into the glass tower. Like expected of her, Étaoin gently took hold of it and kissed the back of the nemesis' fingers. Korrigan then moved to caress her cheek with one finger. If she wasn't being treated like a pet, the affectionate gesture would've been nice.
The taller woman hummed as she thought. “Oh! What if I summoned one of my pets to keep her company while we're away~?”
Dagon spoke up first “I don't think that's a good idea, my Bug is very difficult-”
Étaoin cut him off: “I would be most honoured to meet one of your servants to help me survive my otherwise lonely time without my precious Master. I promise to be on my best behavior..!”
The sprite could feel Dagon glaring daggers at her, but she kept her head low as she spoke her request.
“Can't say no to something as sweet as that, can we?” Korrigan responded.
When Étaoin raised her head, she saw the foreign nemesis looking at Dagon with a pleading look. Étaoin couldn't help but feel like Korrigan was exceptionally entertained by her request being at odds with Dagon's response.
Dagon sighed. A clawed and webbed hand slipped around Korrigan's waist. “Very well. But let us not waste more of our precious time, alright? We don't get this kind of opportunity often.”
“Yes, I do know how difficult it is for you to reliably get that clingy prude off your dick for a few days,” Korrigan chuckled.
Well that answered that question.
The horned woman spoke an arcane word and moved her hands to match. Just like that, a person stood in front of Étaoin in her glass house.
“This is my darling Basil. Take good care of him, alright~? Take care and have fun~!”