The shape of things to come

The sizzling sound and spicy scent of frying sausages greeted John as he called out, “I'm home.”

“Kitchen,” Brenda responded. John dropped his gear laden bag by the stairs and walked over to properly greet his mother.

“No problems with work today?” John asked as he entered the room.

Brenda smiled as she turned away from the stove. “Nope. Yesterday’s long hours weren’t in vain. Everything ended up looking good. Had enough time to stop and pick up the fixins for sausage and peppers.”

“Awesome,” John said. “Need any help?”

Brenda nodded. “The peppers need to be cut. And while you’re doing that, how about you tell me more about that job opportunity you’ve got?”

John grinned, anticipating that question. He rolled up his sleeves and began to cut the peppers.

“Not much more to report on,” he said. “I ran into the recruiter outside of school and I figured it was time to start pulling my weight. Sounds like what they want me to do is right up my alley. You remember last year when I upgraded my computer.”

Brenda smiled as she turned over the cooking sausage. “You could hardly stop talking about it.”

“Yeah,” John sighed with a fond smile, recalling his previous birthday and the present of a new graphics card and extra RAM. He could perfectly recall recounting what the upgrade did for his gaming to her after he got everything running.

“Don’t get too caught up in working,” Brenda warned. “You’ve still got your school work to do.”

“Won’t be a problem,” John said. “They know I’m in school.”

‘Plus increasing my Intelligence probably will make taking tests a breeze,’ he thought as he finished cutting the peppers.

“I’m just being a concerned mother,” Brenda replied. “And if you're done with the peppers, you can start sautéing them.”

“You trust I won’t burn down the house,” John joked as he slid next to Brenda and lit up the burner.

“I figure if you can do all that work with computers, you can handle a little cooking,” Brenda shot back. John smiled as he oiled up the pan and added the cut peppers. Their cooking scent joined the sausages as John and Brenda traded pointless small talk. As the cooking neared its completion, Brenda said, “You should change out of your uniform, sweetie; probably should have done that before helping, but can’t go crying over spilt milk.”

“Right,” John said, turning to head upstairs.

“What happened to your shirt?” Brenda asked before he could leave. He turned back to face her, a look of confusion facing her concerned visage.

“What about my shirt?” John replied.

“You’ve got a stain on the back,” she clarified, prompting John to twist around and pull at his shirt. Sure enough, a dark stain streaked down around his right shoulder.

‘That’s probably from when we used it to drop rocks on those robots,’ John thought before offering an explanation. “Huh. Must have brushed up against something. Doesn’t look too bad. I’ll throw it in the wash during dinner.”

Brenda didn’t object and John retreated to his room, picking up his bag as he went. As he changed into casual clothing, he let out a sigh, “Man. That could have gone worse. At least she bought the job thing.”

Gathering up some less than clean clothing, John stopped off at the laundry room and deposited his load. Then he walked back into the kitchen as his mother plated their meal.

“So,” Vivian said as she drove away from John’s neighborhood, a hint of nervousness in her voice, “what’s up?”

“Well,” Aeolia answered, stretching out the ‘l’, “I figured we could continue our conversation from before.”

Red rushed to Vivian’s cheeks and she doggedly fixed her eyes to the road. Aeolia sighed, “Where’d that spunk go? You kissed John out in the open but you can’t talk about going further in the privacy of your car? With your girlfriend?”

“I mean,” Vivian muttered out, “a kiss is a bit less embarrassing than talking about, you know.”

“What do I know?” Aeolia asked cheekily. “Oh yeah. I believe I asked you what turns you on.”

“Why do you have to be so blunt?” Vivian whined.

“Don’t act like you don’t like that about me,” Aeolia replied smugly. “And I’m trying to get you out of your shell. ‘Cus, I’ll be straight with you, I really don’t want to swear off fucking while you sort yourself out. I will, ‘cus I’m not the sort of person who’s going to try and leverage sex over someone.”

“You probably shouldn’t have said the part about not wanting to give up sex,” Vivian muttered. “Totally not making me feel guilty there.”

Aeolia shrunk down in the seat. “Yeah, that wasn’t really the smartest thing to say, was it? But, if you don’t want me and John to get it on, then we won’t.”

Vivian smiled shyly, eyes shifting to look at the nervous Aeolia next to her. She believed the diminutive woman would take and uphold that oath, and she didn’t want to **** anyone to abstain for her sake. Her heart rate increased as her mind conjured images of John and Aeolia getting hot and heavy. She squirmed in her seat as she pushed those thoughts away.

“I,” she began, her mouth dry, “I don’t mind if you guys, you know... do it.”

“Still doesn’t solve our predicament,” Aeolia huffed out. “What’s the point of a relationship if one part of it isn’t really participating?”

“Love, affection and support,” Vivian answered quietly, before her face grew redder.

Aeolia’s cheeks took on a subtle hue as well. “Yeah. That’s important.”

Silence permeated the car as they aimlessly drove and Vivian chewed her lip as she mulled over Aeolia’s original question.

She swallowed away a lump of nerves and asked, “We’re aiming to be open and honest in this thing, right?”

“Yeah,” Aeolia answered, her tone uncertain. “I’m being too pushy, aren’t I?”

Vivian smiled what she hoped was a reassuring one. “Just a little, but nothing worth getting upset over. I know you’re not doing it for any bad reason.”

She paused and took a breath before finally answering Aeolia’s long standing query. “I think I’m a voyeur.”

Aeolia blinked owlishly at the redhead’s admission. “Is that something you’ve tested or just a guess at your primary fetish?”

Vivian flushed. “I mean, it’s not like I’ve gone peeping or anything like that,” she muttered. “It’s just, the idea of watching people, you know, in the act, really, umm...”

“Makes ya wet?” Aeolia finished with a smirk. “Want me and John to set up a camera so you can see if that gets you off?”

The redhead’s flush grew vibrantly, but when she didn’t immediately shoot down Aeolia’s suggestion, the winged woman’s smirk grew. “Oh. You do. Dirty girl.”

Vivian let out a whine, “That’s not too weird, is it?”

Aeolia shrugged. “I don’t think so. I get a little thrill from being watched, so having an audience is okay with me. We’ll have to ask John about it though. Want to try tonight?”

“So soon?” Vivian gasped out, hands gripped tight on the steering wheel as all her effort went to maintaining road safety.

“No time like the present,” Aeolia said with a shrug. “Better to see if that’s something that works for us now than spend who knows how long pussyfooting around and being all awkward.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Vivian muttered. “What do you think John will think about this?”

“You’ve seen his Libido score,” Aeolia replied with a smirk. “I don’t think he’ll say no. And there’s no way he’d be freaked out by what you want. He’s too nice of a guy to do that. Hell, who knows what sort of stuff can get him off. Only slept with him once so far.”

Vivian smiled slightly, her nerves abating slightly as her courage perked up. “Yeah, he is. I think I’ve got an idea. We need to stop back at my place.”

“I hope it's a sexy idea,” Aeolia cooed.

“Man, that was some good food,” John sighed as he plopped down on his bed. Dinner had gone well, with no more prying into his job or his school day from Brenda.

“Really hope she doesn’t ask too many questions about my ‘job’,” he lamented. “It already sucks I have to lie to her but I don’t want to have to whip up elaborate stories just to cover up the real elaborate stories of my magical life.”

Letting out another sigh, he shook off the post-meal drowsiness and began to divest his Inventory and bag of loot and gear. After hauling his gear up to the storage chest, he sat down at his desk with two things: one of the unused Fire Crystals and one of the pieces of tavaren hide.

“The Evocation for this is super useful, but,” John muttered as he rolled the warm sphere around in his palm, “using it is a bit of a pain. But if I can wear it, that could work.”

John wasn’t sure if crafting the gem into something would give the resulting item the same or similar Evocation but with hours of sleep ahead of him, nighttime was the best time to experiment with Craftsmanship. He picked up the piece of hide, set the gem at its center, and then got up.

He walked to his closet and rummaged around it until he found an old winter glove. He stuck a finger through one of the many holes worn through it over a particularly fun winter, a sad smile on his face. Shaking off bittersweet nostalgia John retreated to his chair and invoked Craftsmanship on the worn glove.

“Only five mana,” he commented, slightly surprised as he confirmed the action. “The gears took fifteen and the bracelet ten. Guess that confirms that less complex stuff does cost less to break down.”

Glove recipe discovered

The glove vanished, leaving no trace of its passing. John tapped the popup to check its particulars.

Glove recipe
A basic crafting recipe for gloves from cloth or animal material.
Minimum material cost: 1 piece of cloth, hide or leather.

“Just what I was looking for,” John said with a smile. “Guess I’ll need to break down something metal to make a gauntlet-like weapon. But for this, it should work.”

He picked up the hide and gem and used his skill on it.

Select the item you wish to create:

Hide Glove: 1 Tavaren Hide, 1 Fire Crystal

Select Crafting Method:

Instant Craft: Create selected item instantly for 22 Mana.

Slow Craft: Create selected item over time. Spend 2 mana every minute for 11 minutes.

“Not much of a difference,” John said with a shrug as he selected the instant option, not caring to conserve his mana.

Hide Glove of Flame added to Inventory

After a quick glance back at his door to ensure it was closed, John pulled out his creation, its warmth quickly heating his hand. The tavaren hide had been shaped into a left handed glove of a dark tan color. The center of the back was thicker than the rest of the glove and embedded into the thicker portion was the Fire Crystal, leaving only half of the marble visible.

“Mana Conversion sticking is great,” John said as he glossed over the other Attributes, their effects self-explanatory. “Let’s see what the Evocation does. Hope it’s not worse than Blaze Shard.”

“Definitely a change,” John said, slipping the glove on, finding it a comfortable, not too tight fit. The heat was uncomfortable for a second then cooled slightly. “Okay, maybe I should check the Attributes.”

Heated: This item generates warmth and can control its temperature according to its wearer’s desire.

Wear Resistance: Durability loss is reduced by 10%.

Waterproof: Water can’t penetrate or **** this material.

“Yeah,” John sighed dejectedly. “Always read everything. Now I know to look and see if using the Evocation will chip off six points or five and a half-ish.”

John was about to cast the Evocation before he smacked his forehead with his ungloved hand.

“Maybe I shouldn’t play with fire in my room,” he said and willed himself into the Barrier above. Inside the attic storage space, John held his left hand out in front of himself, palm up, and cast Fiery Pursuit. A ball of fire roughly the size of a baseball bloomed into existence and John felt it the same way he felt his extended hand. He let his outstretched arm drop, willing the flame to remain in place. Then he had it circle around him.

“This is so cool,” John said, a wide smile straining his lips as he directed his ball of fire around, making it loop around him. Sadly, his smile dimmed as he knew he couldn’t continue to play around and he let the flame go out before he slipped back down to his room, landing feet first on his bed.

“Definitely a nice bit of utility,” he said as he plopped down on his bed, lifting up his gloved hand, calling up its info to check the durability loss. “Looks like that attribute did reduce the durability cost. I can cast this and keep it in reserve for a few minutes before throwing it at something. Overall range is worse, but being able to hit something behind me without having to aim first makes up for it. And I still have two more Fire Crystals to use Blaze Shard with.”

He let his arm fall down to his side and just let himself zone out while lying on his bed. In the stillness, he became aware of the mana in his room. It surrounded him like a blanket, familiar warm comfort wrapping around him.

‘I could recharge with Bask,’ he thought idly, ‘but I really don’t have a need for that.’

As he let himself drift away in the mana of his room, a thought crossed his mind.

‘Is there anything else I can do with this ambient mana? Aeolia said it helps her fly. So can I get it to do something for me?’

John tried to link his mana to the mana around him, figuring that reversing Bask’s mana flow was the best way to try and generate an effect. When nothing happened with a slow trickle, John tried to **** a connection with more, gathering a hefty chunk then forcing it out.

Wellspring Effect: Libido is increased by 50%. Endurance is increased by 25% for those engaging in sexual activity.

John blinked at the information floating above his face and he sat up in confusion. “Well, I got something. That effect though. Why is my room a nexus of sex energy?”

He knew why, despite his half-hearted bemoaning. The porn, erotica, and sexy games he watched, read and played in this room likely were the reason he unlocked such an effect. And he felt the effect as his mind drifted to those fun times, his pants growing tighter as his cock hardened. Before he could think about dealing with it, or dismiss the popups, a teasing voice sounded from behind him.

“Well, that’s going to be fun.”

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