This Ascent to Divinity is Lewder Than Expected

7.43 – Toss

Zoey knew she was a nascent divinity and all that, but the power she held in her hands at that moment felt far more godly than any she'd been given prior. Fiddling inside her pocket as she casually strolled down the street, she tweaked the omni-directional ball that adjusted the vibrator's behavior this way and that, taking extreme delight in how her girlfriend shuddered with every flick of her thumb. Her other hand was happily swinging back and forth, entwined with Maddy's as they strode down the street.

Truly, it was too much power for one mortal to wield. The kind a girl could get drunk on.

At the lowest intensity level, the shorter blue-haired illusionist was able to keep her composure—at least if she wasn't inspected carefully. If someone paid closer attention, they would see that her steps were slightly unsteady as she walked down the street, and though she had managed to fight off an obvious blush into a mere dusting of pink on her cheeks, she certainly wasn't wearing an expression that said nothing was out of the ordinary.

Even better, whenever Zoey flicked the toy up another level of power—just for a second, before bringing it back down—Maddy's fingers would tighten around hers and she would half-stumble a step.

"I'm going to regret saying yes to this, aren't I?"

"If you don't, did I really do my job?"

"You're the worst, Zoey."

"I wear that insult with pride."

They were in the market, still, so while they didn't have privacy, they had a bastardized sort from the sheer amount of people bustling around. Two girls walking hand-in-hand, one of them flustered, went completely unnoticed.

Their date continued. Zoey left the vibrator on its lowest setting throughout, letting Maddy come to a slow simmer over the following half hour. She was a benevolent goddess and gave her short breaks when needed, though more to reset her resistance than anything … so maybe it wasn't benevolence at all.

There were all kinds of stalls and storefronts scattered throughout the commercial heart of Mantle, and the sheer variety meant there was no shortage of sight-seeing to be had. Or in Zoey's case, opportunities for deviousness. Spotting a stall with a simple ring-tossing game, she immediately swerved the two of them toward it. After all, just walking around wasn't nearly as fun as forcing Maddy to do things and interact with people while she was suffering under her current circumstances.

An exchange with the stall-owner followed, describing rules, prizes, and such. It went a little longer than it otherwise might've, since wayfarers had extra conditions for winning—which was fair. She made Maddy lead, as well as pay. Zoey wouldn't normally do that, generally preferring to be chivalrous, but that behavior had switched off the moment she'd gotten a vibrator inside her girlfriend. Now, her focus was on torturing the girl, and that meant maximizing how much she had to deal with the realities of being out in public.

"It's our first date," Zoey explained afterward, outright lying since they needed an excuse to drop suspicion levels. They didn't have illusions to cheat this time, and Maddy had stammered through the whole short conversation, which was a bit much even by shyness standards. "It's cute how nervous she is. I'm flattered, really." She kissed Maddy on the cheek.

Maddy squeaked, not at the blatant teasing, but because Zoey had covertly flipped the toy all the way up to its third setting—giving the girl a strong enough jolt that she only barely didn't slam her hands between her legs. As it was, her face went scarlet in a second flat as waves of magical pleasure coursed through her, and she glared at Zoey while trembling.

All of which could, in a way, be interpreted as a reaction to Zoey's teasing. The perfect cover-up.

"Do you mind?" Maddy hissed, but coming from her, it wasn't really a hiss.

Smirking, Zoey toggled the toy back down. They collected their rings and took a few steps down the line of the stall's counter. The attendant was a middle-aged woman sitting on a short chair, and she didn't have a good view of what was happening below their waists. She was smiling at the two of them, having bought Zoey's excuses. Because who would expect a hidden vibrator in a world where those didn't exist? The only explanation was that Maddy really was that flustered.

Leaning in to whisper into Maddy's ear, she said, "Try your hardest, by the way." She twirled one of the rings around her finger. "If you lose, I'll have to dole out some punishments. Games are more fun with stakes."

"Let me guess," Maddy whined. "You're gonna rig it to your favor."

"I don't like losing, I have no morals, and I like seeing you squirm. So that's a good guess."

Each of them had a square basket of twenty rings to throw; they'd bought four plays each, with each buy-in giving five rings. There were three clumps of green tinted bottles arranged out in front of them: close distance, medium distance, and far. The prizes varied for each, though to be honest, Zoey hadn't scanned what they were. Too distracted by the real goal of the game: to mess with Maddy.

There were additional rules in play for them. Wayfarers had to hit multiple targets to win, scaling up according to their rank. She hadn't paid attention to exactly how that worked either, since, again, she couldn't care less. The game was entirely an excuse to toy with Maddy, not to actually try to win a prize.

"We'll take turns," Zoey said. "One point for first row, two for middle, three for last. You can go first."

Taking a deep breath, Maddy squared her resolve and focused, taking the game seriously despite everything. Any wayfarer was competitive at heart—kind of a job requirement. Or maybe she was relying on the game acting as a distraction to the intense buzzing between her legs.

Maddy scooped one of her rings out of the basket and eyed the three rows of bottles. She gave a few test flicks of her wrist, getting a feel for the weight of the ring.

"I'm really awful at this, by the way," she mumbled. "Don't expect much from me."

"Same, to be fair."

"There's nothing fair about this."

Pulling her hand back to give her first real attempt, Zoey did the obvious: she toggled the toy up. Maddy's spine arched and the ring went sailing wildly off-course, only barely managing to ding against a bottle at all.

Zoey fake winced. "Ouch. You really are no good." She patted Maddy's shoulder. "Maybe once you warm up, you'll be better?"

"H-Hate you."

"Oh? Should you be saying something so mean to someone who holds your fate in her hands?" She flicked the vibrator's control ball around several different ways, and Maddy bit down a whimper, but only barely.

"What do we say?" Zoey prompted afterward.

"Sorry…"

"Good girl."

She patted Maddy's head. Maddy tried to muster up a glare, but the effect would have been ruined in any situation, much less when her face was so red and her knees were shaking. Plus, there was a much more prominent emotion in her narrowed eyes than her feigned, or maybe partially real, annoyance: she was, of course, enjoying the treatment. Zoey loved bullying girls, but only if they liked it too, and she knew how to tell the difference.

Grabbing one of her own rings, she briefly mused how funny it would be if she somehow did worse than Maddy on her first throw, or if she ended up losing entirely.

Her dexterity had improved thanks to her rising advancement and her bonds, but stats weren't some cheat to instantly master every skill. She was lighter on her feet, could maneuver terrain more easily, and had naturally grown better at dodging spells and attacks, but she hadn't somehow mastered the sword just because her stats went up. She could swing one faster and twist her body around better than before, but there was more to skill—the lowercase sort—than that.

So, likewise, throwing objects was an acquired skill and not something she'd be magically good at … or, at least, not magically perfect at. Especially since she was sure there was some trick to it, like there was for all carnival games. Something about how the rings were designed or how she needed to throw them, probably, but she didn't know the details.

Thus, despite being a fourth-advancement wayfarer, she doubted she was going to do all that well. Especially since she wasn't even a physical-type wayfarer, but instead a mage.

At a minimum, she discovered, she had a lot more control over her throw than she ever had back home. Her hand and wrist responded to her brain's commands exactly as she'd wanted, and the ring fell onto the neck of a bottle with excellent aim—before popping free and dropping to the floor.

Not a cheat code, but she had gotten way better.

What was the trick, though?

"You're up," Zoey said cheerfully.

Maddy rolled her eyes and fished out her next ring. Zoey was so distracted by temporary invasive thoughts of what to do when she won that the illusionist made her throw before she remembered that she was supposed to be sabotaging her. The ring clattered down on the neck of a bottle and, amazingly, stuck. One point to her, then.

"Oops," Zoey said. "I was thinking about what your punishment will be. I'll make sure to pay more attention next time."

The implication was obvious: Zoey would have to make the sabotage even more unbearable, now, to ensure her win.

Maddy paled at that prospect. "Maybe I should be trying to lose," she muttered. "At least then I wouldn't have to suffer during the game, too."

But, despite the words and grumbling tone, her knees rubbed together quite noticeably. Zoey smirked and plucked another ring from her basket.