Subconscious Desires

I gritted my teeth as the magic coursed through my veins. It was taking all of my willpower not to scream at the top of my lungs. I had to remain composed and collected for everyone else. As I somewhat expected, however, only two people noticed that anything was amiss with me: Danna and Regina.

However, before Danna could do anything, Regina wrapped her arm around my neck. “Man, babe, you look kinda parched. Come on, let’s get you something to drink at the bar.” She turned to give Danna a glance and Danna seemed to relax a little.

“Really? You’re going to miss one of the best parts,” Leon said as he turned to us.

“Ah, we won’t be long. Like we’d miss the show,” Regina said as she started to guide me towards the bar area. I followed her after giving a quick glance on stage. Vanessa and Sherri were both stretching and preparing for the final section of the competition.

Once we got to the bar, it was fairly empty since everyone was gathered to look at the show. Only Ha’s husband was there, and he was on the other side cleaning glasses. Regina quickly sat me down and had a concerned stern look on her face. “What did I say about making reckless changes? You could have seriously hurt yourself!”

“I wasn’t trying to!” I said before realizing just how loud I had said it before I lowered my voice. “I wasn’t even making any change at all when the Ring suddenly started activating on me.” I looked down at the ring, then back to Regina.

Her face changed from stern to just concern. She lifted up my hand and looked it over. “Well, there’s no damage that I can see.” She gently kissed my finger and ran it along her cheek. “Good, good.”

“Do you have any idea what happened?” I asked, blushing a little at how soft her cheeks felt.

“What were you thinking about before it happened?” Regina asked.

I tried to think back to my own thoughts. “I don’t really think I was thinking of anything. I was just watching the stage and it happened when the announcer was talking about the third stage.”

“Hmm,” Regina said as she looked at the ring again. “And you’ve been having plenty of sex, right?”

“I’ve been having sex nearly every day since I got the thing! I had sex with Vanessa twice already today, and you where there for the last one! How has that not been enough?”

“Okay, easy, I’m just making sure,” Regina said as she leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “The Ring works off desire and pleasure, but also freedom and expression. It’s like a building reservoir. You can feed it so it won’t get hungry, sure, but if you don’t use it, then it’s gonna eventually overflow.”

“What happens when it overflows?” I asked, looking and being reminded about the fact that on my finger is a mysterious magical artifact that can entirely rewrite the known universe.

“It latches onto any thoughts that you have that involve wants and desires. No matter how small or tiny, it grabs onto them and makes them happen.”

“So, I have to both build up the ring AND use it? Why can’t I just keep my life how it is?” I looked over to Summer, Danna, and Vanessa. “I have amazing girlfriends, I was already well off in life. There’s nothing much that I really want to change.”

“You don’t need to rewrite the whole kitchen sink, Maria!” Regina said as she held up her fingers. “Just small changes every now and then. They don’t have to be big. Otherwise, you’re going to get changes that might end up big.”

“Speaking of,” I said, looking at the ring, “Do you know what change the ring made?”

“Let’s see,” Regina said as she closed her eyes. “It was some sort of replacement deal. Though, it wasn’t anything quite present. Hmm… What was it…” I had no idea if she didn’t know if she was just messing with me.

As she spoke, several screens descended down from the ceiling and displayed a sexy model on the screen. She was wearing a slimming latex two piece that had various straps on it. Her brunette hair was tied back in a ponytail and she had a fiery look on her face. Her long boots went up nearly to her knees and her fingerless gloves moved back into fishnets up her arm. There was no doubt about it in my mind at all. She absolutely looked out of place in a fashion show. In fact, she looked like…

“Did I replace the original model in this video with a stripper!?” I exclaimed as I looked at the ring and then to Regina.

“That’s what it was,” Regina said as she snapped her fingers.

“But, why was that such a big change then?” I asked.

“You’re a film person. Think about it. Not only did you have to replace the woman in the film, but then the people filming it had to agree to use her, then film it, then get people to agree to it and show it. There’s a lot of moving parts here,” Regina said as she grabbed my wrist and pulled me back towards the stage. “Now come on! Don’t you wanna see Vanessa up on stage?”

“I mean, of course!” I said as I stumbled along. I looked at the Ring again, the mysterious and powerful artifact that I had on my finger. A thought came to the surface; the thought that made the change.

Man, what if this model-off was a bit sexier?

With a simple whimsical thought, I had altered reality on a much larger scale than I thought. I needed to be careful. I needed to learn more about how to use this. I needed practice.

“Ladies and Gentlemen! Let the Pose it or Lose it begin!”