Category Archives: Stories

Part 4: The Interloper, The Alchemist's Illusions

Chapter 32: The Bet

Linza had finished her shift and was heading up the main street of the estate when heavy footsteps tromped up behind her.

Grun waved as she turned. “Hey, do you uh, have a second?”

If she had first met Grun like this, with his hair up in a messy bun and his tailored trousers and blazer with no shirt underneath, his face flushed and his sea-blue eyes looking hopeful, she might have formed a very different impression of him. Her heart fluttered up towards her throat like a caged bird looking for a way out.

She was a mess. Everything was a mess. The memory of Grun’s recent climax still tingled between her legs, even as her stomach churned with the nausea of exhaustion and uncertainty. She still wasn’t sure if he’d figured out it was her in the break room, and she also wasn’t sure what she was hoping for.

Giving in to whatever chemistry there was between her and Grun was irresponsible in every way—general professionalism, her ethical obligation to the craft, her sense of herself as a relatively sane person, and, most importantly, Tanyth. The memory of their hopeful fretting over Grun sat heavy on her chest.

Still, she couldn’t bring herself to be cold. She checked her watch. “I should make sure I’m at the trolly stop, but it’s not due for another quarter hour or so.” She kept walking, and he followed. “What’s up?”

“I, um, I learned that— I saw that, well— I mean, I asked about the schedule, I— I know it was…” There was a long pause. “…you.”

What was it about the towering man’s stammering awkwardness that undid her? Too many emotions to name crashed through her. Linza’s organs seemed to liquify and boil inside of her, and she had no idea how she managed to not vomit at his feet, except that perhaps her stomach itself had turned to mush.

But Linza would have to be literally dead to not just soldier through. She did her best to shove the feeling aside, to remove herself from her own body. “Hm? Oh! Yeah. I’d have mentioned, it’s just part of the experience that I don’t say unless you ask. I hope that didn’t bother you!”

“No! Not at all, all— all good.” He tucked a strand of hair behind a pointed ear.

Linza smiled politely and nodded. “Good.”

“You’re… really good at that, y’know.” His cheeks tinged pink under the green of his skin.

“I know.” Linza shrugged with mock arrogance. “All in a night’s work.” Despite her attempt to shrug off his words, they sunk in and sent a shiver down her spine to stir the tingle between her legs. He had liked it, and next time, she’d— but, no. There couldn’t be a next time. She couldn’t be that cruel to Tanyth.

“Yeah, you… I’m sure you make everyone feel that special, yeah? That’s impressive.” He rubbed the back of his neck, like he had down by the docks.

Linza nodded. “That’s the idea.” Was that a tinge of regret in his voice? Did he sound like she had sounded, reasoning that Tanyth’s apparent affection was just part of their professional demeanor, and nothing personal?

No, she was surely just imagining things.

“How did you learn to do that?” he asked.

“At university, actually. I went to JSMI.”

He tilted his head at her. “There’s a sex magic university here?!”

Linza snorted a laugh. “No, that would be too good to be true. It’s taught as a combat illusion, but it has many more uses than that.”

“So you spent four years learning how to fuck with peoples’ minds?”

“Actually, I majored in alchemy. So I only spent about a semester’s worth of classes learning how to fuck with peoples’ minds. The rest I spent learning how to fuck with physics.”

“Oh! Numbers. Right. You’re good at a lot of things, aren’t you?” His half-grin made his eyes twinkle like sunlight on the waves.

Linza’s cheeks heated, her stomach doing a different kind of somersault. She should have been more suspicious of the compliment, shouldn’t have let it sway her, but… he seemed sincere.

She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. “No more than other folks here. Tanyth has much broader talents than I do, they’ve worked nearly every role here.” There, she could leverage his attention to put in a good word for Tanyth. 

“They’re certainly not lacking in enthusiasm.”

Linza laughed, easily imagining what kind of quick-talking ball of nerves Tanyth became in Grun’s presence, if Tanyth’s later debriefs were anything to go by. “They said they’re really glad you decided to join.”

“Oh! Thanks. You know them well?”

Too well, she thought. “Yeah, they trained me, too.”

“Oh, great! Did they…” He hesitated. Looked for words, tried to downplay the pause. “Did they write you a fancy letter to start?” It seemed like too quick and too small a question to be what he had really meant to ask.

“They did. That’s a good reminder, I need to ask them to give me calligraphy lessons.” Could he have been about to ask whether Tanyth had flirted with her, like they were most certainly flirting with him?

“Adding yet another talent to the roster?” he said, eyebrows raising.

Her cheeks heated even more, but to her great surprise, that wicked and slithering creature inside of her stirred and smirked. “Not necessarily. I might totally fail.”

“I’m sure you’d be excellent at it.”

“For all you know, I could have wretched penmanship.”

“Then bet on it.” They’d reached the trolley stop. He crossed his arms, grinning. “Take one lesson with Tanyth. If I can tell the difference between yours and theirs, then you win. If I can’t, then I win.”

Linza crossed her arms back. “Alright then, what’s the wager?”

“If I win, then you have to go out to dinner with me. If you win, I’ll still buy you dinner but you don’t have to eat with me.”

She tilted her head. “Well, then won’t I just have bad penmanship on purpose?”

His grin deepened. “I don’t think you can. I don’t think you could half-ass something if you wanted to.”

That slithering thing hissed. Linza’s mouth twitched towards a frown as she felt suddenly naked. How in the world had he pegged her so quickly? Had Tanyth been talking about her? Had the madame? Was she more transparent than she thought? Or was he more perceptive than she’d given him credit for?

She grasped for a way out that wouldn’t totally incriminate her. “Well. Can’t you just pretend you can’t tell the difference and ‘win’?”

He ran his fingers through his beard. “That’s a fair point. I’ll poll three passers-by. You can pick them, so that you don’t have to worry I’ve planted someone.”

It was a logical, thorough suggestion and not at all what she’d expected. “Fine. Tanyth has been studying for years, I’m sure. Matching their penmanship after one lesson is a stretch, even for me. So, I’ll take your wager.” Linza even managed a haughty tip of her chin.

The trolley rattled around the corner, bell dinging as it approached.

Grun nodded. “Deal. See you tomorrow.”

The trolley pulled up, and she stepped inside, grateful that he didn’t come up with some excuse to follow her. She was going to need some quality alone time to sort through the tangle of her thoughts.

Questions ran circles over each other. What made him so confident that he’d see her the next day? What exactly had she gotten herself into?

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Part 4: The Interloper, The Alchemist's Illusions

Chapter 31: Pretty Little Thing

Wyn had offered to torch both Tanyth and Grun with fireballs, and Linza had the uneasy feeling that Wyn actually would if Linza asked her to. Linza, of course, declined. But the genuine promise of violence was a token of affection from Wyn, and Linza once again thanked the stars for her friend.

The rest of the week was manageable, and Linza was able to focus on both her day job and her night job without too much further trouble. Her conversations with Tanyth still made her a bit queasy, and she manufactured excuses to dodge a couple of their conversations, but overall, it was alright.

Tanyth was clearly enamored with Grun, though Grun did not seem to reciprocate their flirtations.

Wonder what that’s like, Linza had snipped to herself.

“How frustrating!” she had said. If only Tanyth had known the irony.

Linza had been looking forward to the weekend, not so much for the lack of work as for the distraction of it. She was off the second day, and she and Wyn had planned a proper girl’s day.

Her shift had been mostly regulars since new guests didn’t tend to book a weekend midday. She was coming up on a slot that had cancelled last minute. In those cases, other staff were welcome to come take the slot. Otherwise, it would be a free break for her.

It was two minutes past the start of the slot and Linza was just gathering her things to step out for her break when there was a firm knock at the ornate door.

“Come in!” Linza called.

Grun entered. His long hair was up in a bun and his beard trimmed short. He now wore fitted trousers and a blazer with no shirt underneath. Had Tanyth taken him shopping? Or was this his own preferred style? 

He looked around the little room, his eyes hovering over the grate for a moment.

Linza reeled, reminding herself that he couldn’t see her lest she totally give in to the panic sizzling in her limbs.

 “Hi! I’m, uh… Grun. I’m new here and I figured it’d best if I, y’know, knew what all there was here. Tanyth said I ought to, since lots of folks start in my department and then ask about other things. The vanilla department, that is. I— um, I’m totally rambling.” Grun sat down awkwardly on the bamboo mat.

She was reluctant to admit how much his awkwardness settled her. She could do without the arrogant swagger. Seeing him so nervous, she almost liked him. Almost.

Did he know that it was her? If he asked her name, she’d tell him. Otherwise, it was expected that the illusionist in this scenario spoke as little as was necessary, and usually only answered direct questions. Not all guests liked the idea of being watched. The screen made it easier for them to imagine that they were alone with their illusion.

“H-how does this work?” he asked.

For these experiences, Linza used her ‘reading voice’ which was smooth and controlled and different enough from her conversational tone that he might not notice. “You tell me what you’d like. Almost anything at all. You’ll feel it, like it’s real. At any time, if you reject the illusion, the effect and the feeling will stop, and it will look translucent. It will last up to fifteen minutes.”

He nodded and ran his fingers through his beard.

He didn’t seem to have noticed that it was Linza. Here, sitting at her stool in the cozy little room, cloaked in shadow, the grate between them, it was easy to treat him like she would any other guest. 

As he described what he wanted, the image formed in her mind.

And then as she chanted the words and traced the gestures, the image formed in front of him.

The image was a woman, as much taller than him as he was taller than Linza. She was half-orc, hair in a ponytail, golden hoops lining her ears and one in her lip. She was naked, her breasts laying against her chest with nipples darker green than the rest of her skin.

“Why, aren’t you a pretty little thing?” Her voice was sweet and smoky.

He looked up at her, enraptured.

“C’mere!” She wrapped around him from behind and started pawing at his clothes. He unbuttoned them and soon was naked too.

Linza tried to maintain a merely professional appreciation of his body, ignoring the tingle of heat between her legs at the breadth of his shoulders, the muscles of his legs and ass, the slight softness of his stomach. She couldn’t help but remember the way all those muscles had strained on the veranda as he’d worked to control his release. His shaft throbbed quickly to its full length and girth, noticeably thicker in the middle.

Usually, Linza imagined the figures in the illusions as characters separate from herself, which made it easier to prompt them to say or do things that Linza herself wouldn’t do. But her professionalism wavered and though she couldn’t say why, she wanted very much to be that massive woman who towered over him.

The illusory orc woman gently pressed at Grun’s shoulders and he spun obediently, facing her and straddling her hips.

With one hand, she ran her fingers up his now hardened shaft.

He shivered and gasped.

Her other hand reached over his leg and easily cupped his whole ass cheek in her fingers. She squeezed, tugging at his rim.

He moaned.

“Why, you’re so ready to spread yourself for me, aren’t you?” she said.

He blushed and sputtered, just like he said he’d like to.

“Must be because you’re a greedy little slut,” she crooned.

“I am not, I—”

“Shhh.” She lifted her hand from his shaft to put a finger to his lips. She then ran that fingertip gently over his lower lip. As his jaw slacked, she pressed her finger to his tongue. He licked and sucked, eager to please.

With her hand on his ass, she pressed him closer into her soft stomach. 

Reflexively, he bucked his hips, grinding against her. He whimpered, desperate for more sensation, but too deferential to demand it.

Heat blurred the edges of Linza’s vision, her imagination all too eager to merge her with the illusion, to provide the phantom sensation of his throbbing cock against her stomach. It was risky and unprofessional to lose control like this—too likely to result in a bad experience for the client, an illusion that wasn’t to their liking. But what he’d asked for was exactly what she wanted to do to him, and she couldn’t bring herself to stop, not with his eyes rolling back and his breath shuddering with anticipation.

She withdrew her finger from his mouth and stroked his shaft in her hand, her palm nearly enveloping his entire length.

He gasped and moaned at the relief.

Her hand on his ass gripped tighter, stretched his rim more.

He whimpered with ecstasy.

A wicked, toothy grin parted her thick green lips. “You seem like you might like something like this…” She inched her fingers over and ran one fingertip lightly over the edge of his rim.

“Y-yes!” he said.

“Oh yeah? Do you like… this?” She brought the fingertip further over, running circles across his whole rim, still stroking him with the other hand.

“Yessss…” he moaned. He slumped forward, cheek against her breast.

Through the illusion, he would feel the softness of her skin, hear the thunder of her heartbeat, experience his weight melting into her, even as in reality he still held himself upright.

“F-fuck… you’re making me drip…” he said. His whole body shook with his trembling breath.

Linza slowed, not wanting to give it to him so easily, only halfway remembering that he had indeed asked to be edged. The pause allowed her good sense to catch up to her, and she forced herself back into her body, back to the awareness that the illusion of the orcish woman was outside of her.

Anyone other than her or Grun would just see the half-orc man kneeling on the bamboo mat with his legs spread wide, his cock throbbing into the air and his head steadily dripping pre-cum.

The thought had the opposite of its intended effect. With just her mind and her magic, Linza had reduced this swaggering man into a panting, pleading mess. He would explode onto the floor without a single touch to his cock, not from himself or anyone else, simply because of what she did to his brain.

She had been working this job for months. She didn’t know why it was now and with him that she finally understood exactly what she did, exactly what kind of power she wielded with her chants and hand signs and the rattle of a crystal.

It was even more intoxicating than the arousal.

“Good,” she said through the illusory orc, dipping her finger in the puddle of pre-cum forming on the bamboo mat. “I want more. Do you want more?”

He nodded.

“Say it.” She teased his rim harder.

He gasped and whimpered.

“Use your words.”

“P-please! I want you inside of me, please!”

Something long-dormant awoke within Linza, unable to resist the half-orc’s desperate call. It slithered through her mind, gorging itself on the knowledge of her power, writhing sensuously in the honey of the half-orc’s pleading. 

Gods, how she loved to see him squirm. 

Unlimited by the physical mechanics of lubrication and perfectly calibrated to the right level of sensation by the desires of his mind, she pressed her finger inside of him.

“Fuck! Oh gods, fuck, oh…” His whole body trembled, every muscle taught, just as when he’d wrestled to control himself for the madame. 

“You like that quite a lot, don’t you?”

“Yes! Fuck, you feel so good… fuck, I’m dripping…” His cock throbbed into the empty air, a steady drip of pre-cum joining the puddle, even as he felt her slick palm slide under his tip.

“Oh? And I haven’t even found your spot yet.”

“My— Ah!” He cried out as the sensation overwhelmed him.

This was the special power of the illusion. She needed only suggest it and Grun’s mind would select his most intense, most perfect, most pleasurable memory and serve it up for him, like a waking dream. He would feel her fingers curling within him, pressing against the muscular wall, activating every single nerve of pleasure.

He moaned from his very core.

She gave him a moment to adjust, then withdrew her finger and pressed harder again.

His eyes rolled back, cheeks flushed, breath hitching. “F-fuck that’s gonna make me…”

Linza slowed the sensation, licking her lips as if she could taste his sweet desperation.

Through the orc’s husky voice, she crooned, “Gonna make you what?”

He groaned. “Gonna make me cum…”

“Do you want to cum?”

“Yes! Please!” He looked up at her with pleading eyes.

She would have teased him forever if not for the way that his begging stoked her own arousal, made her hunger for release, even vicariously.

Her own breath coming fast and shallow, she started up the sensation again, stroking him and pressing against his spot.

His whole body quivered, pleaded. Gradually, his breathing quickened again. His groans deepened.

“F-fuck I’m… I’m so close I… can I?” He quivered like a drawn arrow, so close and yet so obedient, earning his release by providing such a delicious display.

“Cum for me,” she purred.

His eyes rolled back and his whole body tensed.

Linza nearly lost concentration on the illusion, so eager she was to watch his cock as it throbbed in the empty air. 

The spasm started at the base of his cock, his balls pulling tight as his face twisted into a grimace and a growl curled in his chest. With a shudder, he burst, ropes of cum spurting in mesmerizing arcs and then puddling on the bamboo mat.

She kept up the sensation until his cum ran clear, signaling the end of his climax, and she gently slowed as he relaxed. Then she curled around him, humming gently and stroking his hair with her hand that was almost the size of his head.

The tenderness surprised Linza almost as much as the slithering wickedness had. What exactly had Grun awakened in her?

Whatever it was, it faded as exhaustion settled heavily over her, as much in sympathy to Grun’s afterglow as in indication that she was pushing the edge of her magical capacity.

She nudged him down gently onto the bamboo mat and smoothed his hair down, then released the magic.

Grun sighed, eyes closed and expression serene.

Linza sat on the little stool, her breathing slowing as she tried to account for what had just happened. There was now no denying that Grun affected her how no one else ever had. Surely it was wrong to enjoy making someone squirm so much, and yet… he liked it, didn’t he? Was this the ‘chemistry’ that Wyn talked about?

But why did it have to be with him?

And why did it have to turn her into this slithering, wicked thing?

She suddenly wasn’t sure if she liked it—if she liked any of it. Nausea tugged at her stomach—she’d lost track of time and pushed her limits. Maybe that’s all this was—just magical exhaustion making her woozy. Like lack of oxygen or sleep, magical depletion could have strange effects. Fortunately, her last two slots of the day were just for Minor Illusions.

Grun stirred and stretched, disturbing Linza from her thoughts. She was too tired and confused to do anything but watch him. He dressed again, but paused by the door as he went to leave.

“Thank you,” he said.

Linza didn’t reply.

He left.

Muscle memory took over as she slid open the screen and cleaned the room. Within minutes, nothing remained of what had just transpired.

The same could not be said for Linza’s mind.

All she could see when she closed her eyes was his climax, over and over again.

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Part 4: The Interloper, The Alchemist's Illusions

Chapter 30: Love Sick Day

The cooler air of nightfall swept over Linza and out towards the ocean as she walked up the main street and towards her place of work.

There was a string quartet playing in the central square, and the soothing music lulled the crowd into a sensual hush.

Then a voice like a singing bird cut over it and came directly towards her. “Linza, Linza, Linza!”

Tanyth wore a sharp suit again, looking distinctly masculine, but their voice was all girlish glee.

Linza herself was feeling more pensive than anything, but still she grinned empathetically and mirrored Tanyth’s energy as they reached her and took her shoulders in their hands.

“Linza you will not believe this but—” they paused a moment to catch their breath, “I’m training Grun!”

“My goodness, yes!” Linza said as she thought, Oh what a fucking mess. “Starting when, what for?”

“Well, tonight!” Tanyth breathed. “And, vanilla stuff. Which will be nice to get back to—I haven’t worked those roles in a while.”

Vanilla stuff comprised what most people thought of when they thought of a brothel—penetrative sex, blow jobs, hand jobs, et cetera. And as with the teahouse’s famous ice cream, it was the best damn vanilla you’d ever had.

Linza pulled open the costume trunk in her mind and rifled through a few options for a mask that she felt would be appropriate. She settled on a facade of encouraging and conspiratorial. So, she grinned a bit coyly and said just quietly enough to inspire interest. “So are you gonna… y’know. Do hands-on training?”

Tanyth turned nearly bright red. “Oh I hope so! But I hope not! Oh I don’t know if I could stand it.” They fanned themselves with their hands.

Linza wondered how she’d ever convinced herself that they were attracted to her. It would have been obvious. As she’d learned, Tanyth was a terrible liar.

Did people assume that she was bad at lying because she was so earnest? Perhaps that’s why they didn’t look too closely at the subtle discrepancies between what she said and how she felt.

“You’d better tell me all about it, whatever happens,” Linza said.

“I will, I will! Oh, I hope he doesn’t dislike me.” They seemed startled into fear by the sudden realization that such a thing was possible and covered their hand with their mouth.

Linza put her hand on Tanyth’s shoulder. “Tanyth, you’re lovely. If he doesn’t like you, he’s an asshole.”

The tension dropped out of Tanyth’s little body. “You’re the best, Linza. I needed to hear that. And I need to run, or else I’ll be late!” They tipped up onto their toes and pecked Linza on the cheek. “Thank you!” And then Tanyth dashed off through the main street and was gone.

Linza felt like a fish in a bowl in the hands of too young a child, shaken around in their gleeful exuberance and now spinning dizzily in the water, disoriented and queasy.

She soldiered on towards her shift, though the feeling of the bowl around her did not subside. The sounds were muffled, her awareness not reaching much further than an immediate circle around her.

She nearly walked into the madame’s assistant where he stood at the bottom of the stairs up to the rooms where she worked.

“Oh! Hello!” she mustered.

“Something’s troubling you,” he said. It was a statement, not a question.

Linza looked up at him, realizing that it was now she that looked like the startled cat, wide-eyed and frozen. “I… I won’t let it interfere with my work.”

“Might you conjure a little illusion for me?” the assistant said.

“Of course,” Linza said. It would be like the exercise she’d done with Tanyth—the very same one that had revealed her feelings for them. She was nervous, but she couldn’t deny the madame’s assistant.

“Dog,” he said.

The dog was snarling.

“Cat,” he said.

The cat was frozen in fear.

“Touch,” he said.

A hand shoving away another’s chest.

“Emotion,” he said.

A face contorted in silent, anguished scream.

“Love,” he said.

Linza curled up in a ball in her apartment, all alone.

Tears welled in her eyes as a hard knot twisted in her throat. She looked up at the assistant, horrified.

His face was soft and comforting. “Are you angry, afraid, or ashamed?”

“Ashamed, of course!” Linza wrapped one of her hands around the opposite elbow. “I shouldn’t be letting it get to me this way.”

“Do you expect that anyone in your position would feel ashamed?” He tilted his head, an amusement twinkling in his night-sky eyes.

Linza doubted herself, but in the spirit of the question, she answered as truthfully as she could. “Well, yes, I think. Is that… wrong?”

“Where I come from, we say that there are three ways of knowing. The gut, instinct. The heart, feeling. The head, thinking. We all use all three. We each lead with one. Each has an underlying issue. For the gut, anger. For the heart, shame. For the head, fear.”

Linza forced a wry smile. “I think I’m that shame one.”

The assistant nodded deferentially. “In that case, then let me say, there is no shame taking a night off when your heart is troubled.”

“But, the schedule! I can’t possibly ask anyone to cover for me last-minute,” she said. Her clients would be so disappointed! She couldn’t bear it.

“What would you tell Tanyth, if they felt how you felt now?” he asked.

“I…” she knew the answer instantly, and she felt ashamed to say it aloud. But that was the point, wasn’t it? That was the challenge? She could rise to meet a challenge. “I’d absolutely insistent that they take the night off. I’d help find someone to cover for them. I’d… remind them that they must consider the guest’s quality of experience, as well. A raincheck is better than…” She couldn’t bring herself to say ‘bad service’ aloud.

The assistant put his hand on her shoulder. “Take the night off. I’ll take care of the schedule.”

Linza held her breath, lest tears escape. She paused a moment, inhaled, exhaled. “Thank you.” She turned to leave, not wanting to waste any more of his time. Then, she turned back, expecting him to already be gone, but he waited there. As if he’d known what she was about to ask. “Could I… ask you again, sometime, about the ways of knowing? It sounded like there’s a whole framework there.”

He nodded. “There is. I’d be happy to elaborate. Inquire any time.”

She bowed, then left. And she knew exactly where she was going. She bought a box of a dozen chocolate tarts at the estate’s bakery and then boarded the trolly to Wyn’s.

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Part 4: The Interloper, The Alchemist's Illusions

Chapter 29: Crushed

The gentleman left, and then Tanyth and Linza returned to a table on the balcony. It was quieter now that it was in between teatime and dinner time. 

Tanyth sighed and rested their chin on their hands, their elbows on the table. “What did you think?”

“It was fun! Did he masturbate?” Linza asked.

“Not today, though sometimes, yeah. I’m sure he will tonight, though.” Tanyth sighed dreamily. “Glad you enjoyed it. Though you’ve already been very patient! What did you want to talk about?”

Linza took a deep breath, steeling herself. “You know that new guy, Grun?”

Tanyth’s eyes lit up. “Oh. My. Gods. What a hunk!” They giggled and hid their face in their hands. “Ugh, I already have such a crush.”

Linza had made peace with the butterflies, but she had not yet negotiated with the nausea. The reaction was so quick, so visceral. It was like all the tea had turned to spoiled milk in her stomach.

She was jealous, of course. Not just of the gentleman, but now of Grun. He was so rude and pushy and odd, and Tanyth liked him? She knew them and cared for them and she was just a student to them?

She had convinced herself that perhaps Tanyth just had a rule against anything with newer staff, and that’s why they had rejected her. 

But, no.

They had a crush on Grun.

Linza dug deep and mustered as sincere a smile as she could. “Aha! I thought you might like him! Is he totally your type?”

“He’s totally my type,” Tanyth moaned. 

If Tanyth noticed her blushing, they probably attributed it to arousal.

Linza let Tanyth drive the conversation after that. She’d already gotten the answer to her question, and then some. 

She couldn’t possibly tell Tanyth that Grun had been flirting with her. It would crush them. 

Like they’d just crushed her. 

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Part 4: The Interloper, The Alchemist's Illusions

Chapter 28: Under the Table

Linza made her way over to the private dining area behind the one-way mirrors. There were about a dozen tables and four were occupied—five after Linza sat down.

The folks in the room looked like regular patrons. Sipping tea, reading the paper, scribbling in a notebook.

The one-way mirrors ran nearly floor to ceiling, and the view through to the rest of the teahouse was clear. It was easy to forget that the rest of the teahouse couldn’t see you. And that was the point. 

Linza snuck glances at the other patrons, trying to figure which one was here for Tanyth. In the back corner was an older man with salt and pepper hair smoothed back and an emerald corduroy suit. Linza would have bet a whole night’s pay that was him. Everything about his demeanor said ‘gentleman’.

Tanyth dropped off her tea with the usual formalities and then fluttered over to the gentleman. They leaned close to him and spoke quietly, pressing their fingers to their lips.

But it was improper to stare—those were not the parameters of this experience—so Linza sipped her tea and watched idly out over the teahouse.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long. Tanyth stopped by the main counter to end their shift, though it wouldn’t appear to the other patrons that they had.

They carried a little tray of shortbread cookies with them as they returned to the private room. They delivered these to the gentleman, with whom they shared another flurry of whispers.

Tanyth picked up one cookie and placed it between the gentleman’s lips, and he bit off a piece. Then he took the rest of the cookie and licked playfully at Tanyth’s fingers. Tanyth blushed and giggled.

The two continued, the gentleman becoming more forward, licking further up Tanyth’s hand, making their skin flush.

It was impossible to see through their skirt, but Linza knew that underneath the petticoats was a throbbing erection.

If Linza snuck a glance at the gentleman’s face, she could just make out what he was saying by the movement of his lips. He placed a hand on Tanyth’s waist. “Come, now. Haven’t you got any other sweet treats for me?” He beamed up at them like they were the loveliest thing in the whole world.

Linza’s heart twinged, just a little. She was happy to know that Tanyth cared for her. But she still wished for someone to beam at her that way, someday.

The gentleman’s hand slipped around to the small of Tanyth’s back. Tanyth said something from behind their fingers and he laughed.

“Oh,” he said. “Clumsy me, you’ve got a touch of crumbs.” He brushed off the front of Tanyth’s skirts but pressed more firmly than necessary.

Tanyth’s eyes fluttered at the stimulation, the gentleman finding their erection through the petticoats.

“I-I think I’m quite clean now,” Tanyth said.

“Still, something seems to be bothering you,” he said.

“N-nothing at all! You’re a perfect gentleman,” they said.

“Hm. Perhaps therein lies the conflict… Am I being too much the gentleman and not enough the man?”

Tanyth’s eyes widened as they fanned their heated cheeks with a delicate hand. “What are you saying?”

He reached out and caught Tanyth’s hand and pressed it to his lips. Lingered.

Tanyth gasped, looked faint.

He reached towards them with his other hand, but conspicuously knocked the empty tray onto the floor. “Would you look at that? Clumsy me.”

He kneeled down to get it.

“Oh, you must let me!” Tanyth said.

“No, no, let me be a gentleman.”

Linza was not the only one whose sidelong glances became more and more frequent. The idea was for them to both watch and pretend to not watch. 

The gentleman kneeled to the floor and looked up.

Everyone else glanced quickly away. 

There was a rustling of fabric, and then the gentleman was gone.

Tanyth gasped. They made a show of rearranging their skirts, only partly succeeding at disguising the movements underneath.

Linza thought this kind of complicit voyeurism was quite clever. You didn’t actually need to be subtle. You just had to pretend to be, and everyone else would also pretend you were. So, you could have a bit more fun.

Tanyth’s eyes fluttered and their skin flushed even brighter and they clutched their skirts. The gentleman’s clever tongue had found their shaft.

Tanyth did their best to contain themselves, but a few gasps and squeaks still escaped. And that was what made it especially exciting—how a dress falling off a shoulder could be more arousing than a nude.

Linza wanted dearly to watch Tanyth’s face more closely, but she couldn’t outright stare. Or… could she?

Linza imagined herself sitting there and reading a newspaper. She held out her hands like she might have held the paper. She traced the gesture for a minor illusion, and the newspaper appeared propped on the table in front of her. To those convinced by the illusion, it would be opaque. To Linza, it was translucent like the mirrored windows.

Nobody had been paying her any mind, so she expected it would be convincing.  And even if another patron noticed the illusion, them catching her in such shameless voyeurism would be its own fun, wouldn’t it?

She stared right at Tanyth’s face. 

They were beautiful. Their cheeks flushed, their eyes fluttering. They bit their lip as they attempted to stay quiet, to play it off. Their blue pigtails bounced as they trembled. 

A few minutes passed like that.

Tanyth shook. They wouldn’t be able to stand much longer. They awkwardly shuffled and then sat down where the gentleman had been, turning to face the table and scooting the chair as close to it as they could.

And then their expression melted into bliss again. 

They propped up a menu in front of their face, but Linza could still see their pigtails quivering. 

And so several more minutes passed. Linza’s illusory newspaper must have been convincing, because a patron across from her slipped their own hand under the table. He was out of sight for everyone except Linza, and she had a clear view right under his table to where he unbuttoned his trousers and carefully released his throbbing shaft.

He stared up at the ceiling as if daydreaming and then stroked himself.

If a little gasp just behind Linza was any indication, the woman behind her had also started to furtively masturbate.

Linza’s attention returned to Tanyth as they leaned further over the table. They whispered somewhat loudly, for the benefit of the audience, “C’mon, that’s enough!”

“But I always have cream with my tea.”

Tanyth’s eyes and resolve fluttered again. “They’ll notice!”

“Not if you’re quiet.”

“I can’t be— mmmm…” Tanyth’s eyes squeezed shut. They gripped the edge of the table, and their shoulders quivered. 

Linza inferred that the gentleman had enveloped Tanyth again, and he seemed intent on pushing them to climax. 

Tanyth’s breath was quick and shallow. They bit their lip again. Then, their eyes flashed open. They looked like a cat frozen in the sudden light of a front door swinging open. 

They arched their back, head tilted back, moaned, and then reached their hands above their head.

It was almost a convincing stretch.

Almost. 

A slight knocking sound of knuckles on wood caught Linza’s attention, and she turned just in time to see the man across from her burst onto the floor in front of him. 

Waves of heat overlapped each other throughout Linza’s body. Nobody else would have minded if she slipped her own hand under the table—in fact, the other voyeurs would have appreciated it. But she was still a bit shy for that, and ultimately she liked to push herself, to see how much stimulation she could stand before she broke. Like the bet with Tanyth on her first day in the breakroom, she liked the challenge.

Tanyth quivered for quite a while. They must have been quite worked up indeed, to cum for so long.

Eventually, the gentleman reappeared across from Tanyth, with a moderate effort at subtlety. His hair was a bit untidied, but his demeanor remained polite.

He licked his lips at Tanyth. 

They put their face in their hands and then peeked at him through their fingers and giggled.

“Was I enough of a man for my perfect lady?” he said.

They nodded emphatically, ringlets bouncing.

“I am afraid I must get back to business, you understand.”

Tanyth pouted. “Must you?”

“Aaah… you know I have such trouble leaving you when you make that face. A few more minutes.”

They chatted a bit longer, though quieter now and Linza could hear less of what they were saying. She also was not as interested in eavesdropping on the more personal aspects of their conversation. 

And her arms were getting tired from pretending to hold up the newspaper. When enough eyes were averted from her, she let the paper melt away to nothingness and returned to sipping her tea, which had turned cold. Oh well—she had no regrets about where she’d put her attentions.

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Part 4: The Interloper, The Alchemist's Illusions

Chapter 27: Butterflies

Linza needed to debrief about Grun. Wyn would immediately jump on the ‘Grun is an asshole’ train and in this case, Linza wanted a true second opinion.

She was sure Tanyth would have noticed the newcomer. They might even be training him.

It was the following weekend and Linza was on a break, though she knew Tanyth was still working. They’d be at the teahouse. Some tea sounded nice and it’d be a good way for Linza to casually gauge whether talking to Tanyth would be a good idea or not.

It had actually been some weeks since she’d talked to them at all. The butterflies had probably faded.

The teahouse’s main serving area was on the second floor of an ornate building on the main street. Tiny round tables in a tidy grid filled the interior and spilled out onto the balcony that overlooked the street. Each table had a frilly table cloth in ruby, emerald, and sapphire and was ringed by matching velvet chairs. 

The staff were similarly decorated. None were taller than Linza, and they each wore the fanciest dresses Linza had ever seen—snug corsets, billowing bustles, many-layered petticoats, layer upon layer of bows and ribbons and frills. Some dresses were solid, while others were printed with panels of art—scenes of the ocean, unicorns and woodland creatures, pictures of tea settings. The staff wore elaborate hats, bonnets, or pigtails and bows.

Tanyth’s hair was tied up in two pigtails of sky blue ringlets with lilac bows that matched more bows on the ruffled skirt of their dress. The bustier was padded to suggest cleavage, and the corset nipped in at the waist. With the volume of the bustle, Tanyth radiated youthful femininity. Their pointed ears and elfish charm were the cherry on top.

They stepped around the corner as Linza appeared, and they noticed her right away. “Linza! Take a seat by the balcony and you’ll be in my area.” Their voice was especially girly. 

Linza’s stomach flipped. Okay, so the butterflies weren’t totally gone. Linza could manage, of course. She was an adult. This nervous spark with Tanyth was so different from the unbidden heat that Grun evoked.

She went to her seat and waited. The street below was a stream of people, babbling and jostling. A few minutes later, Tanyth fluttered to a stop at the table, ribbons tailing behind them. If Linza hadn’t known better, she would have assumed that Tanyth was a girl. But she was understanding rule number two, nothing taken. Taking someone’s gender for granted, even if it seemed obvious, could be unintentionally hurtful. Tanyth was neither a boy nor a girl, and yet both. Tanyth was themselves.

Linza admired the confidence of their expression. It made her realize how timid she herself could be. She’d avoided frilly dresses at university for fear that her classmates might not take her seriously. And her fear was probably justified. Tanyth themselves probably had to be more careful out in the kingdom. But here at the estate, it was safe to be oneself, both for the patrons and the staff.

Tanyth curtseyed to Linza and then clasped their elegant little hands under their breast. “What can I get you this fine afternoon?”

“A honey milk tea and an estimated time of when you’ll be off shift,” she said.

“Ooh! You caught me at a good time. I’m just about done with my floor shift, and then I’ve just got one experience booked before I’m off for the evening,” Tanyth said.

“Ooh, what kind of experience?” Linza asked.

Tanyth leaned in close and cupped their hand around Linza’s ears and whispered the details. Their voice sent shivers down her spine, but it was their words that sent pulses of heat through her core and legs.

“Oh my,” Linza said. “That does sound lovely.”

Tanyth nodded excitedly, and all their curls and ribbons bounced. “And actually, since you’re already here…” They chewed on their lip for a moment in the cutest way. Linza could see why they were popular here. “We’re short a few voyeurs, tonight. You’d be paid, of course.”

Was it just Linza, or was Tanyth blushing? Surely they were just excited about the experience, and not whether Linza would be there or not. 

Linza herself had been getting the swing of things at the house and was curious to branch out into other roles. This seemed like a great start. She nodded firmly. “I’d love to. It’d be great for my… research, too.” Tanyth would know that said ‘research’ was for her illusions and her writing. 

“Oh! No pressure, but if you also write some smut of it for me, you’ll be my hero!” They said it with all the gleeful sincerity of a princess to a knight.

Linza’s heart turned over in her chest. Tanyth really meant it.

And then Linza realized something. Tanyth did love her. They knew her well and cared for her deeply. That was all Linza had ever wanted, really. The butterflies might want something else, but they were just butterflies. Fun, sure, but nothing to take too seriously.

Linza did not have to fake her smile as she said, “You bet your little ass I will.”

Tanyth put their fingers to their lips and giggled. “Alright. I’ll actually serve you your tea in the room. It’s set just off the cafe with one-way mirrors,” they gestured to a mirrored wall on the far side of the room, “so that they can get the feeling of being in the middle of the cafe without disrupting anyone else. You’ll be the only staff today, other than me. The rest will be esteemed guests, and our honored patron of course.”

Linza nodded, the house’s lingo now second-nature. “Excellent.”

Tanyth turned to leave, then popped back in a springing of curls. “Oh! And he’ll call me a girl and that’s alright. He asked me first and everything, it was all very proper.” Tanyth fanned themselves with a menu. “He’s one of my favorites.”

“How long has he been coming?” Linza asked.

“Years now, about once a month,” they said.

Years! It was difficult to imagine working anywhere for so long, but she’d thought the same thing about university as a freshman. Time would march on. 

Linza grinned. “You’ve been looking forward to this, haven’t you?”

“Of course!” Tanyth nearly whined. “We’ve been flirting all afternoon.”

Linza grinned a bit wickedly. “Must make it hard… to stay focused on your shift.”

Tanyth blushed brightly. “Not you teasing me too! Tsk!” They hid their face behind the bottom of the menu.

Linza giggled. “Alright, alright. I’ll head over to the room. See you soon.”

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Part 4: The Interloper, The Alchemist's Illusions

Chapter 26: Solicitations

Linza was eating dinner at a bench by the docks when a greenish shadow loomed over her.

It was the half-orc man from lunch. He still wore just the tight leather shorts, still moved with self-assured swagger.

Her heart surged to a thunder in her chest, her cheeks heating with the memory of not only lunch, but also her subsequent long session in the break room. She hated how hard—and how many times—she’d cum, thinking of the sweat on his chest and his look of enraptured relief. He had no right to affect her this much, and certainly no business just waltzing up to her like he had to the madame.

“Hey,” he said.

She wanted to snap ‘what do you want?’ but she was always so much sassier in her head than real life. “Hello,” she said. Apparently he decided that she existed after all. If he even remembered her from earlier.

“Do you mind if I join you?” he asked. 

She did mind. But she said, “No, it’s fine.”

“Great!” He sat down next to her, and the bench creaked.

He was so broad that his arm nearly touched hers. He smelled like musk, leather, and vanilla. Half of her wanted to lean closer into that smell. Half of her wanted to press as far to the other side of the bench as possible—or just leave. She sat stiffly in the tension between those warring desires.

He looked out over the docks and then the main street. “This place is amazing, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty special,” she said, and she knew he had no idea just how special it was.

“You seem pretty special,” he said. 

She gave him her most skeptical look.

“I just mean, you know the madame?” he said.

So, he did remember her. “Sort of. I’ll be under her tutelage shortly,” she said.

“I’d love to be under her titty-lage…” he said with a smirk.

Linza was too polite to roll her eyes, and she certainly did not find it funny enough to laugh. 

His eyes scanned her face, and he seemed to notice and recalculate. He cleared his throat, smirk fading. “It’s just… It means a lot to see a half-orc be successful here, y’know? And not despite our nature, because of it.”

“Your nature?” Linza tilted her head. She was sure she knew what he meant, but she wanted to see what he’d say if she played dumb.

And he surprised her by going a bit shy and putting a hand to the back of his neck. “We tend to be… really horny.”

Linza scoffed a laugh. “I hadn’t noticed.”

He smiled. “They must keep them really well sated here, then!”

Linza wasn’t sure whether to clarify that she’d been sarcastic.

An awkward moment passed. 

“I’m Grun, by the way,” he said.

“Linza.”

“You worked here long?” Grun asked.

“Three months or so,” Linza said. She still wasn’t sure that she wanted to be in this conversation, but she wasn’t creative enough to lie either.

“Only that long and you’re having lunch with the madame?” He looked genuinely impressed.

“Well…” Linza faltered. His current behavior was making his earlier imposition seem more like ignorance than arrogance. Was he just trying to flatter Linza? Or get through her to the madame? Wyn would have already handed him his ass, but Linza couldn’t bring herself to be quite so brazen.

And Grun looked at her patiently, despite her long pause. She half expected him to continue on with whatever other questions he had in mind, but he didn’t.

“… I guess I’m a bit of an oddball around here, myself. I’m an alchemist by day, actually. I’m a numbers person. So that’s mostly why. More of a tutoring in… economics than erotics, you could say.”

Grun chuckled. “You’re clever.”

Linza blushed. “Well, math is like anything, it’s just all practice.” She didn’t know why she was deflecting the compliment, other than reflex. He was right! She was clever! Wyn was always telling her that she should stop selling herself short, but whenever the occasion arose, the rules of polite conversation held her captive.

He said, “I know you haven’t been here long yourself, but…”

Here it comes, Linza thought. He’d be asking about the madame, for sure.

“…I looked over this terms thing, and… well, it all seems very thorough, but I’m not much one for paperwork. I was hoping for an inside opinion. Do you think I should work here?”

Linza blinked. It took her mind a moment to wind back from the answer that she’d already been preparing to comprehend his actual question. Then she said, “Are you willing to learn?”

“Of course,” he said.

“To do things differently than you have before?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” he said.

“To consider every aspect of your work with the utmost care?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said, with that same attentive expression that he had given the madame.

“Then… yes. I do think you should work here. It is a special place. If you come at it selfishly, it’s not a good fit. I could see that you…” Linza looked for the right words. The memory of his quivering obedience surged to the front of her mind. Her arousal flared. “That you, well, you listen. That matters here.”

He didn’t seem to notive her flustering. He just nodded thoughtfully. His eyes were blue—she hadn’t noticed that before. She didn’t know if that was rare or usual for half-orcs. 

He turned those eyes to her, smiling. “Well. I’m going to join, if only to have you as a coworker. I think we’ll be a good fit.”

All she could imagine was the immense fullness of him inside of her, and her arousal flared again. Words failed her.

“I’ve already bothered you enough today,” he said, pushing to his feet. “Thanks for the advice. See you around, coworker!”

And then he strode away, back into the estate.

And her eyes followed the muscles of his ass under those tight leather shorts.

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Part 4: The Interloper, The Alchemist's Illusions

Chapter 25: Come for Lunch

Linza had not spoken directly with the madame since the day of her job offer. She’d seen the madame often around the estate, but the madame was usually on her way somewhere or speaking with her assistant. When the madame and her assistant spoke quietly and walked together like that, even guests knew better than to disturb them. 

So Linza was eager for this opportunity to speak with the madame again. They sat on the private veranda just as they had for Linza’s interview. The madame wore a dress woven of golden metallic thread, loose except for where it tied snugly at her waist, effortless and yet extravagant. It made her greenish skin look like jade set in gold. 

Wyn had told Linza that she should harangue the madame into taking her on as a pupil. Linza would do no such thing. She just wanted to express her thanks. 

And so Linza’s jaw had nearly dropped to the table when the madame had said, “The reason I invited you to speak today was to discuss the matter of you coming into my direct tutelage.”

“I would learn directly under you?” Linza blushed at her own accidental innuendo. 

The madame nodded. “Yes.”

“May I ask… why me?” Things were going well with her clients, but it had only been a couple of months.

“You may. Would you like to?” The madame was ever so precise, but never pedantic. 

Linza swallowed and nodded. 

The madame’s full lips curled into a smile. “Your combination of empathy, sincerity, alacrity, and imagination are rare indeed. And, you’re good with numbers. I cannot run this estate forever, much as I’d like to. I seek to leave her with capable caretakers. Eventually.”

Linza took a deep breath. Her heart writhed, looking for some way to defer or deflect the compliments. But she didn’t want to come across as ungrateful. And maybe… maybe she could even believe it was true. Flattery and manipulation were antithetical to the madame’s stated values. And Linza trusted the madame’s opinion—this was only her second time speaking with the woman, but the estate spoke for itself.

So Linza let herself feel a little proud. Let herself smile. And then beam. “There will be documentation to review?”

“Of course.” The madame grinned. 

Linza nodded. “I look forward to it!”

A soft laugh like waves on the beach shook the madame’s ample chest under the golden cloth. “That you are sincerely excited by documentation is no small part of what will make you an excellent caretaker.”

Linza’s cheeks heated with a blush. “That, um, that does make sense.”

With the business out of the way, the madame turned the conversation to more casual topics. It was brilliant to speak freely with her. The madame was sharp and clever and sincere. She was just getting into the story of how she’d purchased the first property in the estate when a commotion arose from just outside the private veranda—shouting and then a struggle by the entrance. 

Then the wooden doors flung open and a broad half-orc man stalked out, shrugging off the madame’s guards, who looked apologetically at her. The guards wore blades at their hips and moved with fatal ease—they would have used deadly force to stop a genuine threat. But this half-orc seemed too strong to contain without such means and yet not dangerous enough to warrant them. He was the sort of man used to going wherever he wanted to. 

He was only a finger’s breadth taller than the Madame, with a mane of wavy black hair, and he was wearing nothing but black leather shorts that were hardly longer than small clothes. Irritation surged up in Linza’s chest like a hissing cat, and she was not sure which she found more annoying—the rude interruption, or that the mess of his hair and the taper from his broad shoulders down to those tight leather shorts was instantly alluring.

“Look.” He held up his hands to the guard. “I said it’ll only take a second. Just a quick chat. No need to be feisty.” His voice was warm and deep and Linza hated how nice it sounded.

The madame stood and crossed her arms, easily looking the intruder in the eye. “Who are you? What do you want?” Her voice was even—neither challenging nor indulging the interloper.

He hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his shorts. “I heard a half-orc can get some decent work around here, is all. Just trying to put in a polite inquiry.”

The madame put a hand on her hip. “A half-orc can get decent work in plenty of places around the kingdom.”

“Yeah, but here I can get paid to have sex.” His lips twitched with a smile—not exactly lecherous, but certainly not innocent.

“Hm. I see you are not lacking for desire. Few orcish men are. But you may lack desperately for self-control.”

“Let me prove myself.” His bare chest puffed forward. 

“Alright.”

The madame leaned over to Linza and explained what she expected to happen, quietly so that the man couldn’t hear. 

Linza’s cheeks heated equally with embarrassment and arousal. Six months ago, she might have slapped someone for suggesting such a thing. Now… she wouldn’t miss what the madame had proposed for the world.

So Linza nodded. “I’ll stay.”

The madame turned back to the interloper. 

“If you would prove yourself, then show me your cock, that I might evaluate it.”

Said cock throbbed underneath the interloper’s small shorts. “With pleasure.”

He slipped his shorts down over his muscular thighs and kicked them off his feet, now fully naked. His cock swelled quickly to full erection, even without his touch. He seemed proud of that. 

Linza could understand why. It was larger than anything she’d ever seen. Not impossible to manage… but certainly a stretch. She shouldn’t have imagined what it would feel like to slide that length inside of her, but she did.

The madame nodded. “Fine. Your girth would please many here. Let us see your performance. You may masturbate.”

The interloper growled out a long sigh as he finally touched his hand to his shaft and stroked himself.

Linza’s pulse quickened, her arousal flaring. But her annoyance grew at the same pace. He was completely ignoring her. Not that a lecherous glance or cross comment would have elicited a positive response, but… well, Linza knew what the madame was about to do, and for the half-orc to cast some of his arrogance in her direction would have sweetened the experience for Linza.

Instead, the unbidden fantasy of grabbing this man by the cock and making him look her in the eye overwhelmed Linza. Her conscious mind reeled, unsure of what to do with that, but her body thrummed with deepening arousal.

“Now, stop,” said the madame. 

“What?” the interloper said.

Linza couldn’t help the wicked grin that pulled at her lips.

“I said stop.” The madame’s voice was pure command.

The interloper stopped stroking. 

“Put your hand down,” the madame said.

With a grunt, he did. His cock throbbed needily, his cheeks flushed and jaw tight with the effort required to stand still. He waited. 

“You may start again,” the madame said.

He was slower now, deliberate. He controlled his breath to curb the building urgency.

“Stop,” the madame said.

He dutifully put his hand to the top of his thigh. Took a deep breath. Swallowed. 

“You may resume,” the madame said.

As he did, he shuddered with a deeper and more visceral pleasure than before. It was not long before pre-cum dripped from his tip and onto the veranda.

“Stop,” the madame said.

He obeyed. 

After her usual length of pause, he twitched. Already, he had learned her timing. Still, he waited.

The madame let another long moment pass and then she said, “Resume.”

Linza was now deeply attuned with many expressions of rising arousal, and she guessed that by his rapid breathing and the steady drip of pre-cum from his tip that he was close to the edge.

The madame allowed him a longer time stroking than before, right up to the edge. 

“Stop.” The word was as powerful as the Command spell that Primmen had demonstrated, though there was no magic now—at least not in the formal sense.

He froze. Shuddered. Grunted. Dripped. Pried his hand away from his shaft.

The madame regarded him, arms still folded.

Linza knew he deserved every bead of sweat forming on his forehead and bare chest with the effort, but she was impressed—mostly because of how sorely tempted she was to slip her own hand down the front of her skirt. She had been eager to watch the interloper squirm, but she was surprised by how deeply she felt the suspense herself. She was irked by how excited she was to see what his face looked like when he came, to see just how much seed a half-orc male could dump uselessly at his feet.

The madame waited a long moment until his breathing had steadied. “Resume.”

And so it went, and the madame edged him again. And again. Five times. The clear puddle at his feet reached his toes. His resolve did not waver. 

Linza’s resolve, meanwhile, was melting like a candle in a furnace. She was going to need a long, long session in the break room after this. Her whole body tingled sympathetically with the interloper’s pleasure, her breath caught with every hitch in his, her own mind was hazy with lust, and she was sure that her eyes were just as dilated as his were.

The interloper reached the edge again. The madame did not tell him to stop. His breath sawed in ragged gasps. He moaned with every exhale. 

Linza felt like she teetered on the edge herself, although she wasn’t even touching herself.

But the interloper didn’t climax. He stopped himself, his eyes locked on the madame. He teetered at the edge. For a full minute. Just dripping and straining and waiting. 

The madame finally smiled. “Very good. You’ve proven yourself.”

He whined as his ass clenched and his spine straightened, a pulse of clear pre-cum coming with the movement. Nevertheless, he waited. 

Linza wanted to scream at him, ‘Just fucking cum already’, but she held her breath.

The madame’s smile deepened. “Please. Do cum.”

Never had Linza seen a face of such excruciating relief, such enraptured release, as when the man tipped his head back, lips parted, and with a low moan, utterly emptied himself onto the wooden deck. Spurt after spurt splattered at his feet. The volume was proportionate to his girth, and then some. Linza wouldn’t have been able to hold even half of it in her mouth, but she sure as hell would like to try.

He hadn’t glanced her way once, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. Her whole body tingled with unreleased arousal, so intense and intoxicating that, despite her better judgement, she would have asked him to fuck her then and there if only he would look at her. And that, her better judgement reminded her, was exactly why the madame insisted on negotiating boundaries and preferences ahead of time before the heat of the moment melted inhibitions.

The interloper’s hand finally slid down to rest on his thigh, his eyes still focused on the madame. It was as if his climax had drained all the fire out of him, leaving just an expression of attentive sincerity. The bullish half-orc seemed now like a lost puppy.

“Good,” the madame said. “You will find decent employ here. Please defer to my staff from now on, and they will show you to your quarters and present you with your terms of employment.”

He bowed his head to the madame and said nothing else as he followed the madame’s assistant away from the veranda. 

The madame returned to her seat.

Linza had not yet returned to her senses. She wasn’t even sure if she could. Or if she ever would again. Who did that brute think he was, stomping in here, demanding a job, and being so fucking attractive? He had no right to affect her this much.

She could put him on his knees, have him begging and pleading to—

Linza needed to do or say something to get out of her head before her mind threw itself completely off the rails.

She cleared her throat and leaned further over the table towards the madame, trying to look casual. “Do things like that happen often?”

The madame looked as nonplussed as ever. “Not often. Half-orcs are usually already a bit more tamed by the time they get here. That one’s fresh from the borderlands. He’ll learn his place soon enough. Quickly, even—he seems like a fast learner.”

“So you’ll have to tame him?” Linza had heard of breaking wild horses. The battle of wills pitted rider against horse, the horse strapped and saddled and bucking wildly to throw the rider. She couldn’t help but imagine riding the half-orc like that, how he would buck and struggle until he was exhausted, how she would break him and he would look up at her with that attentive sincerity—

The madame chuckled. “No, no, and I didn’t mean it so literally. Orcish culture isn’t actually as brutish as that. It’s more about learning what tactics are effective in an interspecies society. He chose to defer and obey, so he’s off to a good start.”

The madame had treated him so unlike she treated Linza. To each their own, it seemed. Would the madame teach Linza more about how to deal with orcish men? And why was she so eager at the idea of putting this particular man in his place?

Linza did her best to focus as she and the madame discussed orcish culture for the rest of their lunch, but she could not quite shake the fantasy of that insufferable interloper moaning obediently between her legs.

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Part 3: On the Job, The Alchemist's Illusions

Chapter 24: The Invitation

In the coming months, Linza settled into her routine. Just as with the break room, the routine did not diminish her pleasure—rather, the reliable expectation spurred her on.

She spent nearly every weekday evening and weekend afternoon at the estate. Linza usually had at least one session a day that was just Minor Illusions, but there was one weekend day where she had fully ten. Whenever her work permitted, she scrawled stories in her notebook in the dim light, inspired by the guest’s noises of pleasure in the other room.

Before and after her shifts or even between sessions that were further apart on the schedule, she wandered the estate. She bought pastries, perched on balconies and watched the people below, sat next to fountains and enjoyed the rushing water. She attended more lectures, each with their own explicit demonstrations.

Molly had been eager to read Linza’s smut, and Linza had been eager for a receptive audience. Spurred on by Molly’s encouragement, Linza wrote more than she ever had before.

Linza saw less of Tanyth. She still loved them, she knew. She missed them. But she could not complain and there was plenty to distract her.

She put nearly every copper of what she made towards her loans. At this rate, she might even pay them off within two or three years!

As her three month anniversary of being officially on the schedule approached, she’d received a letter in white ink on black paper. It was from the assistant, on behalf of the madame.

It was an invitation to lunch.

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Part 3: On the Job, The Alchemist's Illusions

Chapter 23: Sorcery (Part II)

Linza turned towards the empty third chair, partly as a place to set the illusions and partly so that she could focus. First came a low and building moan, filling the air all around them. Then a gasp and heaving breath.

This was a sample platter more than a curated experience, and Linza hoped it was what Nephis had in mind.

Next, Linza conjured an image of a woman draped across the chair, her hair a tangle, her hand in her sex, her face a picture of bliss. Then the image faded, replaced with the slapping of flesh and accompanying grunts. Then a man in the chair, head lolled back, arc of cum hovering midair.

Linza kept that pose and shifted through a few different characters—a werewolf, a succubus woman with a massive cock, a slender and feminine man with fox ears and tail.

Linza paused and looked over at Nephis—the tiefling’s eyes were transfixed on the fox. Nephis leaned forward, chin in her hands, one of her fingers pulling at her lip. Though the rest of her was still, her tail lashed violently like a cat with prey in its sights.

Without looking at Linza, she said, “Do sound and an image at once.”

Linza couldn’t, but before she answered as such, she hesitated. She hadn’t ever been able to do an image and sound at once. It was, however, a common ability for students who majored in the school of illusion. And over the past few weeks, Linza had practiced that cantrip more than she ever had while she was in school.

And Nephis hadn’t asked her if she could do it—she had told her to do it. And who would have better instincts for such a thing than a sorcerer?

Linza considered which illusion she might be familiar enough with that the image and sound would come viscerally together. She knew so immediately that she was tracing the movements even before the image was fully in her mind.

The octopus mermaid sprawled across the chair, her tentacles wrapping around the legs and the back and flailing in the air, cum spurting from the tips, her face twisted with bliss, and a guttural orgasmic scream echoing from the center of the image.

Linza nearly lost focus on the illusion. She’d done it!

“Nnnngh now you’ve gone and done it,” Nephis moaned, but this time her scolding tone enticed instead of admonished Linza—mostly because Nephis’s face was flushed red under the purple of her skin, and her eyes were glazed with arousal.

Nephis scooped her violet breasts out and over the edge of her bodice. As she took one of her breasts in her hands and massaged her dark bluish nipple, she pulled her tiered skirt up to reveal that she wasn’t wearing any underwear.

With a pointed canine pressing into her full lip, she brought the tip of her muscular tail around and plunged it easily into her sex, gasping with relief. She thrust the tip in and out, working her fingertips over her nipple and vulva.

Nephis tilted her head over to Linza and smiled. “H-how’s this one for the memory banks? Nnnnngh…” She stuffed her tail greedily further inside, already visibly dripping around it. “I k-know I’m supposed to tell you first but… we’re empaths, aren’t we?”

Linza nodded vigorously. Staff were supposed to always ask ahead of time before initiating anything, both with guests and with each other. But sometimes, it was nice to indulge in the feeling of spontaneity—especially since Linza knew that she could simply take her leave and there would be no judgement, no consequence.

At JSMI, part of the strict restriction on romance with professors was that certain students might ‘gain favor’ or that professors might manipulate them with that idea. Ironically, that sex and sexual favors flowed so freely at the estate totally took away their ‘bargaining power’ in such a situation. With everything given and nothing taken, there was no power imbalance to exploit.

And Linza wanted absolutely nothing more than to watch Nephis pleasure herself.

“N-not all Tieflings are thirsty as fuck but— nnnngh,” Nephis shoved her tail in even further. “Fuck that’s good… —But I sure am.”

Linza was, as Nephis had just said, an empath and she took a guess at something that Nephis might like. An image glimmered to life in the third chair again, but this time it was a mirror of Nephis herself, fucking herself with her tail.

“I-is that what I look like?” Nephis said.

Linza traced the gesture again, and the image spoke with Nephis’s exact intonation, “Why would I lie to you?”

“Fuck!” There was an actual splash of moisture around Nephis’s tail. Linza’s rapt attention flowed into the illusion and it shifted to include this detail.

Nephis’s chest heaved, her breasts bouncing. The illusion blurred and then depicted those same breasts mid-air.

Nephis’s eyes widened as she glanced to Linza and trembled with a wave of intense pleasure. “Fuck, you’re good…”

Linza couldn’t help but smile, though she turned her attention back to the illusion, and so did Nephis.

It was like one of Linza’s art classes where they had been required to keep their eyes on the model at all times, and almost never glance at the paper. Linza focused entirely on watching Nephis, letting everything that she noticed flow into the illusion, her fingers constantly flowing through the air to refresh the image.

Nephis continued fucking herself with her tail. With the fingers of one hand she rubbed her clit vigorously, and with the other she pinched and pulled at her nipples—unwinding into deeper and deeper abandon as she watched the same unfold in the illusion.

Nephis reached a fever pitch, her moans and their illusory echoes filling the room, her whole body trembling, her mouth gaping with overwhelming arousal, her wetness dripping up her tail.

Then her breathing quickened and her eyes widened.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Nephis’s eyes rolled up, her back arched, her neck tilted back revealing the purple curves of her neck, and she came. Fluid gushed around her fingers and into the air, splashing over her tail. Then more. Then more. Nephis didn’t stop fucking herself and she didn’t stop cumming and she didn’t stop squirting.

Linza finally succumbed to the intoxicating heat of her own arousal and the illusion faltered as Linza’s awareness was filled with only her own aching need.

Finally, Nephis slowed, her moans deepening and softening and her breathing coming back down to normal. But she didn’t stop fucking herself. She turned her evening grey eyes to Linza and said, “What are you waiting for, an invitation?”

Linza nodded meekly.

Nephis withdrew her tail from herself with a sigh and waggled the tip at Linza. “Wanna try?”

“Yes!” Linza scrambled to her feet, though she nearly fell over. She kicked her underwear off from under her skirt, but didn’t bother to remove any of her other clothes. As she neared Nephis, the tiefling took Linza’s hands in hers and guided Linza’s hands to her breasts and pulled Linza down to straddle her in the chair.

With both of Nephis’s breasts covered by Linza, she curled the hand that had been on her vulva deeper around to her internal spot, and with the other she rubbed circles over Linza’s clit.

Linza nearly collapsed onto her. That is, until the tip of Nephis’s tail teased Linza’s entrance—then, Linza totally buckled.

Nephis didn’t take any issue with Linza’s face in her cleavage. The smell of incense and lavender surrounded Linza.

The first few minutes of sensation—Nephis’s fingertips at her vulva, the slender tip of Nephis’s tail twisting gently at her entrance—were totally overwhelming.

Slowly, the overwhelm gave way to urgency. Linza rearranged herself and grabbed Nephis’s breasts properly again, running her thumbs in circles over the tiefling’s nipples.

Nephis gasped, head tilting back, and she pulled deeper into herself with her own fingers.

Her tail pressed a little further in, and Linza moaned. Then further, with a delicious stretch. And when the length had reached the back of her sex and yet was still too slender, the tip curled back around to press against her spot as more of the girth slid in. The squirming undulations of the tail inside of her were unlike anything that Linza had ever experienced.

Linza moaned. “Fuck! Holy shit that feels good.”

“I know,” Nephis purred.

Nephis’s breasts bounced before her, the forbidden fruit now here for Linza’s delight, and she could not help but lean down again and close her lips around Nephis’s nipple.

“Gods, yes!” Nephis yelled, and the movements of her tail and hand on Linza’s vulva reached fever pitch as Nephis started to cum again.

It required no illusion for the sound of Nephis’s gasps and moans to fill Linza’s entire awareness. Nephis’s chest heaved, her hand slapped against the wetness of her climax, her tail writhed within Linza, and her body shook with wave after wave of release.

Pre-orgasmic waves of pleasure started coursing down Linza’s legs and up her core, just as Nephis’s climax was winding down.

Nephis sensed it and pressed her tail in even further, the tip pushing against Linza’s spot, the shaft providing stretch.

Linza let Nephis’s nipple fall from her lips and gasped once, twice, and then the climax overtook her. She squeezed down around Nephis’s tail and her fingertips grasped Nephis’s breasts as she lost conscious control of her body.

After the first several waves, Nephis stilled and just pressed her hand against Linza’s mound and the tip of her tail against Linza’s spot. That let the sensation of the pulsing contractions come to the forefront of Linza’s awareness.

Linza was a bell, peal after peal of pure ecstasy ringing through her, intensity slowly fading, but pleasure lingering.

Linza sunk down against Nephis, her cheek against Nephis’s breasts, her legs tucked by Nephis’s hips, the tiefling’s hand and tail still in place. They stayed like that for a long few minutes.

Finally, Nephis took a deep breath and smoothed Linza’s hair. “Lovely chat, dear.”

Linza stirred and stretched. She’d forgotten that Nephis’s tail was still inside of her until it withdrew and unwound, and the sensation of it undulating inside of her almost sent her spinning back into climax again.

Linza went and fetched her underwear from the floor. They’d been hot and wet when she’d kicked them off, and now they were cold and wet, so she stuffed them in her pocket rather than put them back on. Linza had started to bring quite a few extra pairs to work for this exact reason. Linza rearranged herself as best she could, though Nephis made no such efforts.

The tiefling remained sprawled across the chair with her skirts hiked up, her breasts resting over her corset and her tail draped over the side of the chair and hanging limp towards the floor.

“I’ll stop by the madame’s office for the paperwork?” Linza asked. Something told her that Nephis wouldn’t be facilitating the paperwork process, between Nephis’s earlier attitude and the lack of desk in the office.

“Clever girl,” Nephis crooned.

A shiver curled down Linza’s spine.

There also wasn’t a clock in Nephis’s office, probably because the woman preferred to work on instinct than clockwork. “Best not be late,” Linza said, curtseying with mock formality. She stepped towards the door.

“Now, Linza,” Nephis said, “With your new arrangement I’ll need to do regular… quality inspections, to ensure that nobody will mistake them for cut-rate work.” A half-smile curled across her face, equal parts mischievous and lecherous.

Linza matched it with her own. “But of course. And… does that imply that the rate for these other sessions remains the same as my current rate?”

Nephis grinned. “But of course.”

Linza’s excitement nearly jumped out of her chest, but she needed to focus and especially needed to not be late to her next session, lest she lose any of the patrons she had so far cultivated. She’d assumed, in error, that these new sessions wouldn’t fetch the same rate.

Linza dipped her head in farewell, and this time Nephis let her leave.

With a glance at the nearest tower clock, Linza confirmed that she only had a minute to spare before her next session, and she scurried around the corner and into her half of the little room.

Linza was lucky that her next guest particularly liked succubi. After the session, the guest praised her, saying that this latest work had been particularly inspired. It had been, of course—Linza had modeled the succubus directly after Nephis.

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