5.25 – Suggestions


    The food arrived, and Zoey enjoyed a conversation and a meal with Maddy, keeping topics light while learning more about her. She gave what she could about her own past, as she had with Delta and Rosalie, but there wasn’t much—mostly because Zoey purposefully steered her thoughts away from those topics. Even without knowing who her family was, she could feel homesickness creeping up. If she tried and seeded to unearth her past, she was scared of how it might affect her. Besides, she ought to be focused on her task in this world.


    Eventually, with their tes cleaned and dinnering to an end, the conversation returned to where it had gone at the start. Maddy joining the team. The most relevant subject of tonight, from a bigger-picture perspective.


    “So,” Zoey said. “The barrier’s still up, right?”


    “Of course.”


    “About you joining, then. Us bonding. We should talk about that.”


    “Yeah. We should." Maddy coughed. “Just, um, I guess it’s a bit weird, out in public.”


    Zoey raised an eyebrow. "Is it? I was under the impression you’ve gotten up to much worse while out and about."


    “What?” Maddy asked, eyes widening. “Rosalie told you?”


    Zoey paused. “Rosalie? What?”


    “She didn’t?”


    “<em>You </em>told me,” Zoey said. “Or I teased you about it, and you were really obvious.” Back when Maddy had insisted that Zoey didn’t leave the training room to ‘recharge’. “What happened with Rosalie?”


    “N-Never mind. It doesn''t matter.”


    “Actually, she mentioned something about it,st night,” Zoey said. “You two got up to something?”


    “We didn’t get <em>up </em>to anything,” Maddy said. “Just—I ran into her. Um. It’s—it’s really something I shouldn’t talk about. Ask her.”


    “Okay?”


    “We weren’t <em>involved. </em>I came to her rescue.”


    “Her rescue?”


    Maddy shook her head rapidly, blushing as she did. “Really. Not my story to tell.”


    Zoey was doubly interested, now. What did it mean that Maddy had e to Rosalie’s rescue’?


    “Okay,” Zoey said slowly, “Anyway, you joining us. You’ve made your mind up?”


    “If you’ll have me, then yes.”


    “Then we need to work out the details.”


    Maddy wrinkled her nose. “Yeah. The details,” she said reluctantly.


    Zoey paused. The response was more reserved than she’d expected. “Not looking forward to it? Us bonding, or …?”


    Maddy’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, I mean more, the shard. That’s the part I’m worried about. Us two is—um. Fine. How <em>is </em>that working, anyway?”


    Zoey leaned back in her chair, studying the blushing petite girl. At the scrutiny, Maddy''s face went even redder, and Zoey smiled. She looked around the busy restaurant, an idea forming.


    “Those illusions of yours,” Zoey said. “How do they work?”


    “Sorry?”


    “Do you make an image that oveys what’s actually happening? Or does it work some other way?”


    “That’s the simplest method. Not what I typically use.”


    “What’s theplicated one?”


    “More of a mind-influencing effect than an illusion. I can make an ‘image’ or ‘default’ that people will try to fill in. It’s safer, because it holds up better.”


    “Sorry?”


    “So, like, imagine I was naked—“


    Zoey’s eyebrows shot up.


    “I—I don’t know why I went there,” Maddy stammered out. “You brought it up. My mind’s on the topic. But, whatever, just imagine that situation.”


    “I have been all day.”


    Maddy went even redder. "Stop teasing me when I’m trying to exin. Anyway, imagine I was naked, but put a raw illusion—the simplest kind—of clothing over myself. In that case, people could see through small details, like the wind not affecting it right, or not contouring to objects when I sit, and so on. I’d have to manage all of that manually. For the most part. Even raw illusions can be handled with some instinct. But the point is—a ‘suggestion’ is better.”


    “Suggestion?”


    “Theplicated kind, where it’s half illusion, half mental effect. Put one of those overtop me, that simply says ‘I’m clothed’, and people will look at me—and the spell will fill in the details however they please. If something strange happens, like, water is thrown at me, then the situation is handled automatically—either they’ll see my ‘dress’ get wet, or they’ll imagine the water missed, or whatever. The downside is that what each person imagines can change by the person, so they could, technically, coborate and discover that details don’t line up.”


    “Huh.” Zoey considered that. “The messing with your head stuff is kind of weird.”


    "Most people don''t like mental effects, I know. I don’t have the <em>most </em>controversial ss in the world, but it’s up there. People don’t like their thoughts being yed with.” Maddy seemed to havee to terms with how her ss was perceived, since she didn’t seem bothered. “Why do you ask?”


    Zoey looked around the restaurant. “I was putting together a n.”


    “Oh?”


    “Gauging what we could get away with.”


    “Get … away with?”


    “I mean, we need to Bond, right? And you have a thing for being out in public.”


    “I don’t have a <em>thing </em>for it,” Maddy said. “Just, what kind of illusionist <em>wouldn</em><em>’t </em>think about what it''s like? Or try it out. It’s a perfectly natural curiosity. If <em>you </em>could do something like that, I bet you would.”


    “You’re right. I would. And I can, right now, since I have an illusionist with me. How convenient.”


    Maddy hesitated. She looked around. Almost all the tables were full. They were tucked off the the side, but they still had several parties near them.


    “R-Really?” Maddy whispered. “You—you want to? Here? Now?”


    Zoey’s smile widened. She’d been testing the water with the suggestion, but by how Maddy’s gray eyes had widened, and how she had started breathing faster, she could tell that for all Maddy’s protests she was excited by the idea. Her im that she didn’t have a thing for it was inly a lie. Though Zoey had already guessed that.


    “You should probably put up as strong of an illusion as you have,” Zoey said. “Because I have a feeling I''ll get carried away.”


    Maddy swallowed, then, again, looked around the restaurant, scoping out their surroundings. No one was paying attention to them, but regardless, Maddy looked nearly panicked—in an excited way. Zoey’s own heart mmed in her chest. She’d done this in a dream before, with Kali, but that had been a dream. She was really nning on pleasuring Maddy out in the open? In the middle of a busy restaurant?


    She would be worried about how Maddy’s eyes skittered around the room in concern, but the anxiety of being caught was what made the event so exciting. And, despite Maddy’s obvious tenseness, she started tracing a glowing spell into the table—more than happy to fulfill Zoey’s request.


    “I’ll make it so they think we’re just having dinner and chatting,” Maddy said. “That’s the suggestion. If we deviate too much, they’ll get suspicious. Can''t leave the table. And if there’s any other wayfarers, they''ll have more of a chance to see through things.”


    “Better hope there isn’t, I guess,” Zoey said, subtly scanning the room and especially the tables nearest them. Her heart had already been mming, but it picked up further. Blood flowed downward, and her pants stiffened, no longer able to contain her excitement. She hadn’t brought her portal panties to this date, so her pants quickly filled out, her fourteen-inch member straining against fabric. Zoey shifted awkwardly in ce. Maddy blushed, eyes flicking down, though the table blocked her sight. She knew what was happening. Hardly difficult to figure out.


    The spell activated, and the circle disappeared. “There,” Maddy said. “It’s active. So. What did you … have nned?”


    Zoey locked eyes with her. A smile crept onto her lips.


    Stress testing. <em>That</em> was what she had nned. How far could Zoey stress Maddy''s ''suggestion'' without getting caught?