Caress Melani - Playlist

 This is the spotify playlist for Caress.

Originally, I choose most of the songs on fairly shallow or at least knee-jerk reaction, but I did go through and think it out a bit more. It's a long list so some of the themes and statements get repeated.

Caress Journal Page

Caress Character Sheet

There She Goes - is a very quiet story about the impression a passing woman gives the singer and to my mind, this is Caress thinking about the woman who saved her may have been an avatar of Sharess, whom she encountered for maybe all of half a day but changed her life.

Walk Like an Egyptian - Imagine the priests and other devotees of Sharess explaining to a young yuan-ti the tenets of the faith and the practicalities of a life in which sexuality is healing and worship. A high speed montage of bridging yuan-ti and human emotions.

This Cat's on a Hot Tin Roof - Internalizing the concept of joy and celebration. Figuring out what her own understanding of that concept is in the context of her different frame of mind and physiological aspects. The defiance of finding her identity and not suffering denial.

Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom - The satisfaction of being able to see a person's burdens eased and their soul being healed by a moment of honest & caring companionship. This is what she wants to do. From now until forever, she is a healer and defender. Let's spend the night in my room.  

Love Shack - The Festhalls of Sharess, sanctuaries of non-judgmental exploration of joy and sensuality. A place to safely explore what makes you feel alive, accepted, and passionate. The Festhall travels where Sharess's faithful walk, wandering the road, glitter on the highway.

Start the Fire - Caress trying to explain how she navigates the concept of emotions in languages set by people that have decided their experiences are the normal and hers alien. Descriptive, slow, deceptively calm in seeming. Point by point, stoking the depths of her nature.

Kiss - The glorious acceptance and casual compassion of the church of Sharess. The Queen of Joy does not seek followers, she dances with mortals and wins their hearts, pulled to her orbit by honest passion and gentle strength. The cult of Sharess is love unconditional.

Atom Bomb - There is power in passion and people underestimate the amount of energy in the "cold" blood of a yuan-ti. The intense certainty and confidence that drives the ambitions of countless would-be serpent gods also exists in the hands of a young-woman seeking to help others.

Closer - There is a grim side to sensuality and joy. Dalliances that almost saw her goddess Sharess swallowed by the darkness. Men and women that share Caress's profession and bend it toward exploitation and encourage the worst of addictions. A line that must be held.

Like a Prayer - The fact that the calling of a name can bring you feeling alone to being part of something greater and give you strength to stay the course. Sometimes you are the voice calling out and giving strength. Sometimes you are the one that needs to hear it.

MORE - Sharess is Bast is Sharess. She is sexuality, but she is still a warrior and so are her faithful. Rogues, Clerics, Sorcerers, Warlocks, Monks, and even Paladins. Take the Festhalls of Sharess lightly at your own risk. They will give you MORE than you can handle.

Confident - Her simplicity doesn't fit the molds around her so people want to say she's complicated. She is unapologetically yuan-ti and shows no hesitance to condemn the cults of Sseth, Merrshaulk and the other Serpent Gods.

Hollaback Girl - Do not confuse a willingness to give comfort and companionship with being at your beck and call. Respect the courtesan or face the paladin.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot - As a Paladin, Caress is a bulwark built to hold the line against a tide. She is going to do everything she can stand between her companions and harm. This is not an attitude she takes to her other duties, as a courtesan she doesn't taunt her lovers.

Whip It - This can apply to so much, she does prefer weapons that can be concealed such as whips made to look like belts or darts as hair-pins. And her approach to trouble is pretty direct.

Whip my Hair - A declaration that that she's not going to let anything stop her from making the world a better place, finding her joy, and helping other people find theirs.

 

Let's Just Live - An continuation of her declaration combined with an acknowledgment of a sad and troubled early life and that terrible things have happened and are still happening. But she's not ready to give up.

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On Caress's sexuality, I feel like Caress is on the asexual spectrum. She enjoys sex when she has it and she very much appreciates it as a tool of worship as well as its use in giving other people joy, relief, and companionship. But it's not a thing she seeks for its own sake. 

 

I also very much doubt that Sharess or her priesthood would demand sex from their membership, being tolerant and accepting in general.