"In that case it sounds like the three empowerments are probably our best bet, at least if we want me to make my wishes pretty urgently, and I for one," thinking fondly of that kitchen and also the dungeon downstairs, "would definitely like to have my soul safely in your possession as soon as reasonably possible."

"Agreed. We have some dangerous kinks, you and I, and on top of that there's the risk of unexpected harm if you ever visit Earth, and really I'm just going to feel a lot safer if you were guaranteed to come to me on death. That would be much better."

It snaps its fingers, and a paper contract appears, breaking down three wishes for the specified three empowerments in unambiguous language, specifying clearly that these wishes are not immediately grantable and will instead be worked toward over time, being granted as soon as feasible, and finally listing the cost for the arrangement as the recipient's soul.

Esme beams delightedly and then sets to reading through the contract, paying close attention to all of those details.

Everything is thoroughly agreeable and cooperative, with no tricky wording or hidden gotchas. The empowerments are specified to be granted through a collaborative decision, involving the recipient's preferences and wishes everywhere feasible. It's all about as friendly as a contract for one's soul could possibly be.

Well, yes, naturally that's how Sable would do things. She just wants to make sure for both their sakes that there aren't any accidental issues with the wording that could lead to trouble down the line. Once she has perused the document twice and made some notes in her notebook about it, she's satisfied.

Sensible of her, really. There are two spots to sign, and a special pen to use that writes in her blood.

There may be a hint of a dreamy sigh as she picks up the pen.

The pen seems to sting her fingertip just a bit as she gets it settled into her grip. As she starts to write, it becomes a sharp biting draw, piercing into her finger and drawing out the blood — and with it just the tiniest hint of the flavor of her soul, indelibly marking the signature as hers no matter what changes she may ever experience in the future. The tug of writing with it is deep and subtle, but utterly unmistakable.

She ever so carefully puts her name down on the page in her best handwriting, twice, despite how unfairly hot this experience is.

And once it's signed, Sable sighs sappily at her, duplicates the contract, and vanishes one copy off to the stacks. The other she hands back to Esme.

"Well that's a huge relief," she says with a smile as she feels Esme's soul bind itself to her permanently. "Now there's no possible way to lose you. You're completely and irrevocably mine, through death and beyond. Nothing can stop me from putting you back in a body if that's ever needed."

She takes a look at Esme's soul, now that it's properly hers.

On the surface level and most of the levels below that, it's an ordinary human soul, the same kind Sable is familiar with from other soul contracts.

Only in the very deepest part, the innermost layer, does there start to be a hint of strangeness. On inspection, it seems that what Esme has is two souls, both complete in themselves, but one accreted around the other like a pearl around a grain of sand. The inner soul is a relic of her previous life, and it belongs to Sable just as much as the outer one does, bound by the same contract.

It seems conceivable, from a close examination, that the two souls could be separated to allow for both of her to exist simultaneously. It would be a bit delicate because of the depth of integration, but it may even be theoretically possible—though Sable may not currently have any idea how—to allow the souls to each sustain a separate body while remaining deeply enough conjoined that both bodies would share their thoughts in a permanent bond, two minds joined as one.

Always feels special, taking ownership of a soul. Tender, poignant. 

That nesting soul situation is a surprise, though.

Huh!

"Okay. I have absolute confirmation of the past life thing now, even stronger than just analysis of the memories. You have a kind of soul-within-a-soul thing going on, where you have a whole and complete soul from this life that grew around a seed of a whole and complete soul from that life. And if I work out how to do something really delicate, I might be able to set you up as a two-body hive mind, through that beautifully complicated soul of yours."

"Yesssss. The Esmepocalypse begins."

"Okay but more seriously though, that's pretty exciting news. —ooh, do you think you could leave one of me mortal and empower the other one? If I'm remembering the contract terms right," she is, "as long as at least one of me is fully empowered, it should qualify as fulfilled. You could even potentially empower one of me as a test subject, and then empower the second one differently using what you learned from the first!" Though she is definitely daydreaming about having one of her get to remain fully mortal so as to be more thoroughly at Sable's mercy. 💖

"That... would be very very complicated. Incredibly cool, but very complicated. I only have the barest edges of a clue at how I'd go about disentangling you to enable it, and it's unclear which process I'd figure out first. If you really want, though, I can wait to empower you until after I figure out how to tease your soul apart into its component halves while retaining your self-connected nature."

"I definitely think there are both practical and kinky reasons why I might like that. And I'm not in a rush to be empowered, although I definitely do look forward to being more capable so I can be an even better sexy kidnapped secretary."

"Okay, that'll be the tentative ordering, then," it nods. "Speaking of secretary work, a big thing you can help with that is figuring out useful public figures to try to nudge onto a better path, or other interventions that might be a good idea. The map'll track anyone I'm already focused on, but it doesn't identify new targets unless they're already trying to do something destructive. A human touch could really help there."

"I'll be happy to help!"

"But I must admit, right this second, what I really want is for you to take me back to your kitchen and eat me." Signing away her soul was really hot, okay. She's in the mood to celebrate.

"In that case," it scoops her into its arms and stands up, a tentacle gently setting the notebook and pen through a portal onto Esme's desk, "let's go back upstairs. You look absolutely delicious, and I'd love to have you for lunch."

Esme kisses the end of its nose.

It blushes and smiles, then squeezes her tighter and presses a hungry kiss to her lips.

Up they go, then into the suite, and through to the kitchen.