Week 1: Elise's Date, Part 4

“A space where Elise can practice magic?” May cocked an eyebrow at Aífe’s question when the pair returned from their trip to the yuri section, spellbooks in hand. “Let me think… I guess we could close the café early and let you do it in the kitchen. I doubt we’ll get any other guests today, anyway.”

She led them through the door behind the counter into a spacious kitchen that wouldn’t be out of place in a normal restaurant. The fact that most of the surfaces were tile or metal and there was a fire extinguisher present put Elise at ease, knowing there was less that could potentially be destroyed if a spell went awry. Once inside, May ducked into a side door that didn’t have any words on it, but rather a cartoon picture of a cow’s head. It wasn’t difficult for either of the guest to work out what likely went on in that room. A couple of minutes later, she emerged with a somewhat glassy-eyed April in tow.

“Alright you two, try not to burn the place down, and yell for Umbra if you end up in an emergency.” May waved goodbye to Aífe and Elise before noticing their concerned glances toward her twin. “Oh, and don’t worry about April—she can get like this after a full shift on milk duty. I tend to be a bit more composed, but I think her girlfriend has been training her to boost her sensitivity.”

“Her girlfriend?” Elise asked, struggling to make polite conversation while trying not to look at either of the twins.

“Yeah, don’t know if you’ve met her, but Lady Aífe has—it’s Missy, one of the sisters that runs the spa and salon.”

“Aww, I bet they make a really cute couple!” Aífe smiled. “Does that mean that you’re dating Holly?”

“Nah, I’ve fooled around with both of them a few times, but nothing that serious.” May waved her hand in a dismissive motion while shaking her head. “Anyway, I’d better get her to some water and a spot to lay down. Hope you guys come by again! Ooh, or maybe you could visit us at the barn!”

“Sera makes you stay in a barn?!” Elise looked at her, flabbergasted, before once again averting her gaze. “That’s just awful!”

“No, no, it’s not like that.” May assured her. “It just looks like it on the outside. It’s actually super nice on the inside—hell, it’s better than where we were living before we got dragged onto that other season. You should stop by and hang out sometime! Maybe I’ll even let you two try milking me.” With that parting offer, May helped her sister out the back door of the kitchen, making their way back to their lodging. The pair left in the kitchen busied themselves with their preparations to distract themselves from May’s proposition.

“Let’s see…” Aífe cracked open An Introduction to Sapphic Spellwork, flipping past the foreword to the first chapter. “Cool—looks like chapter 1 is about the mechanics of spellcasting. ‘Sapphism, as with many schools of magic, boils down to three primary factors: Imagery, Intent, and Control.’”

“Okay.” Elise nodded along. “Does it elaborate?”

“Yeah, um… looks like one of the most important aspects when casting a spell is how you imagine it. Apparently, the most dangerous thing a novice mage can do is cast a spell without a clear image of what that spell should look like—the spell can behave unpredictably, otherwise.” Aífe explained, and Elise found herself flashing back to what happened on the first night she had these powers. She shivered at the unpleasant recollection. Aífe continued, “‘This is mitigated, somewhat, when casting from a spellbook, as traces of the author’s image and intent are left behind in the ink, causing the spell to naturally conform to match.’” That explains quite a bit. Elise thought to herself as she tried to keep her eyes from drifting to Aífe’s naked breasts. I should have expected that this place would have spellbooks written by perverts.

“Alright, does it mention incantations?” Elise wondered aloud. “That spell that I tried earlier sounded like it was just a normal command.”

“Um… oh, found it!” Aífe replied after turning several pages. “’Incantations play one of two roles when casting a spell—instantly calling the image of the spell to the caster’s mind, or communicating to a second party. The second usually only applies when drawing power from—or attempting to summon—another being. When using an incantation to call an image, the words themselves rarely matter, so long as the caster has already created a mental association between the incantation and the image of the spell. This is something that sapphic mages have chosen to dub ‘The Magical Girl Method.’”

“What exactly does ‘magical girl’ refer to, in this context.” Elise interrupted.

“Ah.” Aífe could understand the confusion. “Magical girls are… well, I guess you could say that they’re a type of mage.” She tried to think of a good, short explanation that summed up literal decades of a genre. “They’re girls in manga and anime—usually middle school to high school age—that use magic to transform into super-powered versions of themselves to fight evil. If you’ve ever heard someone mention Sailor Moon, that’s one of the most famous examples.”

“Why are they listed as an example in a book about lesbian magic?” Elise tilted her head in confusion.

“It’s probably because I can’t think of a single work in the genre that didn’t have at least a little gay subtext.” Aífe responded bluntly. “We refer to it as ‘yuri undertones.’ Heck, Sailor Moon even had its American version censored to remove some of the more obviously lesbian parts. Can’t risk gay anime girls corrupting the minds of children in the 90s, I guess.”

“That’s awful.” Elise tensed, clenching her fists. “I absolutely can’t stand censorship like that! And for such a ridiculous reason! Even if they don’t support the LGBT community, they should at least be able to recognize that stories can’t change peoples’ sexualities. If they could, then gay people wouldn’t exist in the first place—they would have been turned straight by all of the heterosexual stories that they’re constantly exposed to.”

“Yeah, but the lesbians had the last laugh in this case.” Aífe chuckled. Seeing Elise once again looking confused, Aífe clarified, “They censored it by making the two very obvious lesbians into cousins, but they didn’t actually remove any of the nonverbal subtext. So now, not only did it have lesbians, it had incestuous lesbians. Gotta love it when they shoot themselves in the foot like that.”

“I suppose it is rather fitting that it backfired on them, but I’d prefer if it simply wasn’t censored in the first place.” Elise huffed.

“Anyways,” Aífe attempted to get them back on topic. “The book basically says that the Magical Girl Method is when you give each individual spell that you cast a name specific to you as a caster. Seems like it mostly only matters for the purpose of combat, since it lists speed and ‘obfuscating the specifics of the spell’ as the primary benefits. When it comes to normal casting, you have to be either really detailed in how you imagine the spell or really specific in how you word it.” Aífe flipped back to the introductory chapter. “As for intent and control, the first refers to the purpose of the spell and the emotions behind it. It uses an attack spell as an example—if you throw a large fireball at your opponent, but you don’t really want to hurt them, the fireball will do less damage.”

“I suppose that would be how someone could make flames that are cold, or similar effects, then?” Elise posited.

“Yep.” Aífe confirmed. “Looks like image mostly affects the form the spell takes, and intent shapes what the spell actually does. Let’s see… ‘One of the primary uses of such alteration of a spells properties—when used by skilled yurimancers—is to change spells to inflict lust instead of damage when fighting female opponents.’” They both sat in awkward silence for a moment upon reading that statement.

“Seriously?” Elise rubbed her temples. “I hope that they don’t find ways to make having sex the point of every topic in this book.”

“Well, it is a book written by magical lesbians that’s about how to use lesbian magic.” Aífe pointed out.

“What does it say about control?” Elise promptly ignored Aífe’s response.

“It says that control is just how much of your magic you can channel into a single spell.” Aífe summarized after scanning the next couple of paragraphs. “I guess it’s like how much you can lift, but magically—if you cast too big of a spell, it can fail, backfire, or even go out of control.”

Elise thought about the spell she cast the other night. In that case, I suppose I was lacking in all three areas. She realized. I didn’t provide a clear image, and I didn’t have enough control to accomplish what the spell defaulted to. But what about intent? Was I subconsciously affected by the changes to my sexuality?

“Does it mention ways that I can improve my control?” Elise finally asked.

“Let’s see… ah—casting more powerful spells!” Aífe found the relevant section after some more page flipping. “Um… looks like the size of spell that you can cast is determined by both your control and your overall mana capacity. To train the former… oh! Apparently, you just need to cast moderately powerful spells until you run out of mana, doing it a few times each week. It really is just weight lifting, but with magic.”

“What do I do if I don’t know how much mana I have in the first place?” Elise furrowed her brow. “I’ve only cast two spells, one of them ended up accidentally being too large for my current abilities.”

“Luckily the next section is ‘Determining and Increasing Capacity.’” Aífe scanned the next page. “It says that the best way to figure out your capacity is to cast a small spell repeatedly until you run out. It recommends something like making a small flame at your fingertip. As for increasing capacity… oh.” Aífe eyes went slightly wide.

“What is it this time?” Elise prepared herself for it to be something ridiculous again.

“‘Yurimancers draw their abilities from feminine energy.’” Aífe quoted the book. “‘Therefore, exposure to additional feminine energy can provide temporary or even permanent increases to a yurimancer’s capacity. Some examples of activities that result in exposure to feminine energy include, but are not limited to, looking at women, holding hands with women, cuddling with women, kissing women, eating women out, and having sex with women. In addition, it is highly recommended to devote a certain amount of time each day to meditation on the beauty of the female form, as it helps to foster a deeper attunement to feminine energy.’” She looked up at her professor somewhat bashfully. “Well, I guess you’re in the perfect place to train, then. You might end up as an archmage by the time we go back home.”

Elise, unfortunately, did not catch Aífe’s attempt at lightening the mood because she was too distracted. As her eyes trailed down once again to Aífe’s bare breasts, she realized that she could feel a small thrum of energy beneath her arousal. She hated to admit it, but it seemed that the book was right—she just wished that her magic powers didn’t have becoming a sex-obsessed lesbian as a prerequisite.

“—ise? Elise!” Aífe managed to pull Elise out of the spiral that she was starting to go down. “Hey, I know that having those kinds of feelings for other women is kind of uncharted waters for you.” The redhead placed her hand over Elise’s, gently intertwining their fingers. “But don’t worry—you don’t have to jump into the deep end right away. We can stick to whatever pace you feel comfortable at. See?” She pulled their hands up to demonstrate. “The book says just holding hands works, too.” Aífe’s warm, comforting smile made Elise’s heart flutter, despite the absurdity of being comforted and told she can take things slow by a woman who appeared to be naked, at least to Elise.

“You’re right.” Elise smiled back. “I suppose I have been letting the situation freak me out more than is probably necessary. It can be a bit difficult to maintain my composure when everything in the environment is trying to goad me into becoming some twisted, lustful floozy. Now, that’s enough stressing over silly things.”

“Yep!” Aífe cheerfully agreed. “I know that it probably won’t be entirely accurate, since you cast a spell earlier, but why don’t we try out that capacity test that the book mentioned?”

“Sure.” Elise nodded. “I just need to make a small flame on my fingertip, right?” She spent the next several moments forming a clear image and intent in her mind. A small flame, like a candle. It should be bright and warm, but not too hot. The image clear in her mind’s eye, she felt a trickle of magic flow to her fingertips, and she chanted, “Fire.” A small, yellow flame burst to life at the tip of her index finger.

“You did it!” Aífe cheered, holding her hand close to feel the warmth of the flame. “It’s so warm and gentle—it really suits you.” Aífe’s praise made Elise blush, and the flame responded by shifting to a light pink color. She quickly put it out, not wanting to find out what that shift might have meant in terms of the flame’s other properties.

They spent the next couple of hours repeating this process, taking short breaks for water every now and then. By the time late afternoon had rolled around, Elise had worked up a light sweat—she had cast it over a hundred times at this point, and she had long begun to feel the fatigue of repeated casting.

“Okay, why don’t we try for one more, then call it for the day?” Aífe encouraged her like a coach pushing for her to run just one more lap.

“Alright.” Elise panted lightly. “Fire.” Nothing happened for a moment, but then a tiny flicker lit up on her fingertip… accompanied by the smell of burning fabric. Too quickly for them to do more than just watch, Elise’s pedestrian clothing burned away, leaving her in nothing but her robe and witch hat. The flame died as soon as the last thread was consumed.

Showed the Mistress her breasts! +2 VP
First time bonus! +2 VP
Showed the Mistress her pussy! +3 VP
First time bonus! +3 VP
Current score: 10 VP

They stood there, stunned—Elise in silent panic, and Aífe doing her best to not make it obvious that she was committing every line and curve to memory. She had no way of knowing the exact number of times she’d imagined that body during long showers back in college, but the real thing definitely lived up to her imagination.

“I guess that’s what happens when you try to cast a fire spell without any magic left.” Aífe nervously chuckled, trying to ease the tension. Elise, however, just stood there with her mouth moving, unable to form any words. Eventually, her knees gave out, and she collapsed to the floor, pulling her robe shut in an attempt to cover herself. “Let’s go ahead and head up to my suite—you can shower and get changed.” She held her hand out to Elise, who silently took it after a moment. They made their way to the, thankfully empty, lobby and into the elevator.