Clarence Gupta's Magic Assembly

"That was an invitation to nothing! Stay put, dammit," Vinzez hissed, but with the current stage of the show, he could not snap as loudly as he'd like. Dragging Anathema away was also impossible, for obvious reasons. Furthermore, being jacked into the stage control console, she was free to open and close the curtains as she pleased, so there was nothing to stop her from opening them back up for the sake of her new magic act.

Anathema wound find a willing assistant in SellSoul, who, like her operator, seemed to delight at being relied upon for anything. "I'm going to break every leg in the house!" she reassured Anathema, though the expression seemed to be more a cause for alarm than a deterrent.

The crowd's initial reaction to seeing the two again was clapping and light-hearted laughter; they were probably expecting another gag. Vinzez's prediction had come true in one respect: one funny act made everyone expect more, though whether that was a bad thing was up for debate. The trick itself went off without a hitch (well, without any unplanned hitches) as SellSoul eagerly sawed as instructed, seeming almost too eager to cut Anathema in half at nothing more than a few words' prompting. The faked pain didn't seem to deter her at all.

The crowd never seemed to have any real concern that Anathema was going to be injured throughout this process; even if she'd been a human, everyone generally knew the gist of this trick enough to know that Anathema wasn't in real danger. The trick wasn't much new to look at, but the audience appreciated it all the same, perhaps just appreciating the change in atmosphere. As they clapped along, they were surprised to see Anathema's clothes fall away, leaving her in the same barely-there bikini that Scout had showed off moments ago and was now hiding abashedly just off stage. Most of the reaction seemed positive, which was undoubtedly a huge surprise for Anathema.

Just offstage, with Scout, Vinzez looked like he was about to bust a gut, his frown wide beneath his neat mustache. His hair looked tousled, though that was probably the result of his manic sword clanging and cloak wrapping in the previous act. SellSoul, on stage with Anathema, was clapping along with the audience, having set down her saw earlier, of course. One might wonder if she was having some misgivings about being the only girl still suited, though, given her love for taking one for the team.

The applause was good, but Anathema had enough time to check how else the audience felt using her BBS:




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It probably came as no shocker to Alda to find that, even with all of the other moisture coating Claire, it was pretty easy to tell Claire was excited in the same way she was once the last shred of clothing was off. The real shocker was, just as Alda and Claire were ready to consummate their relationship as magic-curious, bi-curious magic practitioners, Mallory yanked the two apart. At first, she looked like she might be a bit apologetic, given that she'd just revealed Alda's naked front to the crowd, but her sympathy vanished as she saw that Alda wasn't overly inconvenienced by the attention. "This gunk really is accursed! Maybe I can learn a thing or two about curses from it after all," she grumbled, wrapping Claire up in a towel against the red-head's will.

Clarence was having a hard time resisting Alda's offer, despite not being slathered in pink stuff like many of the others. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who had a lot of experience with this sort of thing, and even under the circumstances, it was hard to turn down. "N-Not in front of an audience, I think," he murmured, fixing his cape over his shoulder and trying to get it to fall so that it would cover up his groin. "Not that there's anything wrong with you! But, er, back to the point, this goo really is nothing more than a sexual stimulant, and I have no idea why my grandfather had so much of it, but that's all it is. Trust me, when this stuff wears off, anyone affected by it is going to really, really regret whatever they got up to. Now let's all calm ourselves and-"

He was interrupted by a loud tonguing noise from over one shoulder, which everyone in the room would quickly realize was from Claire and Mallory now conducting a noisy makeout session. Mallory didn't seem so opposed to the antics as long as she got to be part of them with Claire.

"Aw, for the love of... Mundwoon, Hadya, would you please help break this up?" Clarence half-begged.

Mundwoon eagerly interjected herself between the two girls who were making out, though the grin on her face showed she might not mind taking part herself. Contagious atmosphere, perhaps. Hadya, on the other hand, approached quietly, grabbing a towel as she did and kneeling in front of Alda to offer it. "Alda, I apologize, but please accept this. It is my sworn oath to follow whatever commands I am given," she spoke, a rare bit of dialogue from the ordinarily silent girl. Unfortunately, it might be a little hard for Alda to set aside her newfound bi-curiosity, as from this position, she could see half down Hadya's top, and the lady's large, natural breasts were about as impressive as Claire's. Beyond that, Alda could almost see up her miniskirt, where her thick, brown thighs were on display thanks to her eye-catching costume.

"Once you're wrapped up, I'll hand over your reward," Clarence sighed, not realizing that a three-way makeout session was happening starting to happen behind him.

Amazingly, Dusana was ignoring all of this, continuing to scroll over her PET with one finger.

...

...

...Dammit. The applause was nice, but her trick hadn't quite brought the house down the way she'd hoped. Anathema didn't let it show outwardly, though, and took in the applause, waving at the crowd as she bounced up and down a bit. Just enough so that those looking at her rack would get a nice bonus. Plus, it gave her a chance to see the BBS reactions...they seemed to like it, aside from one person who thought strip magic was 'dumb'. They were dumb. And another person seemed like they didn't quite understand that Navis could do a lot, but they couldn't quite do anything at will. To make that trick work the way it did, she had to utilize her more unique talents. Oh well, she made it look effortless, at least.

Speaking of effort, once she was off the stage, the witch Navi could tell at a glance that her efforts were futile, as Vinzez seemed less than pleased at her. She sighed and crossed her arms, which just made it look like her breasts were going to pop out of the impossible bikini. "Relax, I'm done. I can tell you didn't get it. But let me give you fair warning. Your act, no matter how good it is, never changes. People don't like it when things get stale. They want fresh stuff, things they've never seen. If you can't grasp even that, then your days as a performer are numbered. That's not some magical prediction, that's just data extrapolation." ...Again, why was she even caring so much? If he flamed out, boo hoo, not a big deal. But speaking of deal... "Oh, and I'll take that 'going away' money now." Once she'd gotten it, she'd change back to her base appearance, and hand over the GMO. "Thanks for the GMO. I'd ask to keep it, but...I just don't think I'd really use it much." Well, that was definitely a lie. She just wasn't much for keeping mementos of her failures. At most, she'd burn a Vinzez effigy to ash and keep the dust afterward if she wanted something to remind her of the mission. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

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"..." Between Clarence refusing her, and the increasingly large makeout session going on behind him, the situation basically turned into a giant bucket of cold water hitting Alda. She almost seemed a little sad as she closed her legs again, and after a moment, accepted the towel with no attempt to even try to see what other commands she'd follow. "A-All right..." Back to real life. No one wanted Alda if there were other options. She thought she was cute, and smart, and was sometimes unintentionally funny...but she seemed to be alone in that opinion. Eventually, someone curvier would come along, and woo away whoever she was trying to hook up with, and it'd work because they had bigger T+A than her. Granted, this was the first time she'd tried doing it with another girl, but even then, it happened. It just was...argh. But she knew that already. She'd seen society pull this sort of thing on her way too much to not know this was the way the world worked.

Sighing, she stood up, the towel now preventing anything risque from being seen...though it was still arousing her a bit just from all the goo that was on her. Still, she was at least mostly back to business, as she refocused on Clarence. "You know, I still think you're wrong on that count. Just because it has an obvious, and...really, really effective purpose, doesn't mean it can't have a secondary function. You think it was obvious to use mold to fight disease? When I say it like that, it sounds insane, doesn't it? And yet, over a century ago, we were able to do just that."

Alda reached down, grabbing what would best be called her panties, and put them back on, flinching a bit as even with as little fabric as it covered, the goop still had an effect from putting it on. She wasn't quite sure where her other stuff had gone, though. Still, she had another order of business before getting fully dressed, getting her payment, and leaving. "Oh, right. By the way, you three..." She didn't really care if she'd actually gotten their attention, but she turned over to the makeout session behind Clarence, and presented them with her left middle finger. "Screw you all right now. I hope you all get a disease from each other." That she somehow magically avoided. ...Ha, magically. "So, Clarence, can I get my reward now? I'd really like to just go...although! Is there any chance I can get a sample of that goo? Not much, just enough to run a chemical analysis."

"You're no magic critic, Vinzez. I've made it this far on my routine and here, at the pinnacle of the industry, there's no need to work harder. I choose to work smarter and stick with what works," Vinzez protested, not knowing that his days were numbered and that number could be a matter of a single digit. "I'll transfer into the network 2000 zenny in funds, plus an additional 500 for your... attempt at sound advice," he chuckled, undeservedly smug. "Thank you for being my lovely assistant. I think I can wrap the crowd up from here."

*Anathema gets 2500 zenny*

"No momento?" SellSoul asked, looking shocked. She looked like she wanted to try to force the issue, given her propensity for indebting people to her, but she dropped it in the interest of not making the aggravating situation more annoying. "How about you, Scout?"

"I think I'll be happier to never remember it... It's really better for me if I can just stay out of the spotlight," the other girl sighed, though she eagerly restored her clothes so that she could return the costume. The three could head offstage while Vinzez got on with his next canned trick. "Anyway, I'm glad you and Alda came up with an idea so that Clair could join the magic gathering."

"Yeah! She's the whole package already: brains, boobs, and butt!" SellSoul agreed.

"Isn't it usually 'brains, beauty, brawn?'" Scout retorted.

"Yeah, but we didn't see her fight, so I don't wanna make any assumptions. Anyway, I'm gonna head back to the PET and see what Mundwoon is up to. Catch you on the flipside, Annie! Look me up if you need another partner in the future! I'd be happy to offer my services... Ku ku ku!" SellSoul finished, flashing another grin before vanishing.

"... You can look me up too, if you want," Scout offered, with a small smile, before following SellSoul in another jack-out beam.

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Clarence gulped, his face registering worry, though it wasn't clear if he was suddenly regretting passing up his opportunity to get laid or if he realized he'd upset Alda. "Trust me... It's not easy for me right now, but I think everybody here is going to regret anything they do here once they come to their senses. I already know I'm going to have to confiscate Mundwoon's PET and delete some photos before she leaves the room," he explained again, straightening the lapels of his jacket in a way that made him look like a poor imitation of his father. "So, you know... m-maybe at another magic assembly, when we all have a clearer head! I'd be happy to..." he mumbled with a lack of confidence, perhaps thinking the words sounded a little presumptuous on his lips. "Er, spend some more time learning your unique form of magic."

He frowned, then knit his brow. "I want to believe in the stuff too, Alda, especially since my grandfather went through the trouble of passing it down to me. Maybe I'll save a barrel... just in case. I guess faith is a big part of being a magician too," he conceded, although Alda probably didn't consider herself a 'faithful' person. Hadya faded back into the shadows of the locker room; Alda had been too over it all to spare her much of a thought, and besides, for her standout appearance, she hadn't been much of a presence so far.

The three girls had very different reactions to Alda's parting gift. Mallory gave her a return middle finger with one free hand, while groping with the other. "You're lucky I'm busy, or else, I'd have a four letter curse for you: it goes F, U, augh!" she cried out, as Mundwoon gave her a big slap on her ass.

"Don't worry, Alda! I get tested regularly," Mundwoon cackled, more a brag about how much sex she had than anything else. Though, with Mundwoon's penchant for just giving people things, it was pretty likely that not all of those tests had been in regards to particularly desirable specimens.

"Alda, despite Mallory's earlier-" Clair managed to get out, before Mallory found her lips again. She managed to wrestle her face free, then continued. "Despite her earlier protest in the form of yanking me away, I'm as ready as ever to take you up on that particular offer. If you'd like, I'll scoot over and make you some room?" she offered, putting a little distance between Mundwoon and herself. Mundwoon was still so horny that she only managed to pull apart the snuggle by virtue of her intense desire to do whatever people asked. Alda did say she had to go, though. "Oh well... Maybe another time. I see another meeting in our future." By the sounds of it, that was the last thing Alda wanted, though the feeling was evidently one-sided.

"Your reward, yes. You can feel free to take that goo with you... whatever is on you and, heck, if you brought a bottle or a jar or something, whatever you can fit in there is fine. I'm not planning to get very much zenny per gallon out of this," Clarence reassured her. "And for your other reward, I believe you wanted battlechips. How about I offer you these three: FlameLine1, DollThunder1, and IceWave1? Any you don't want, I'll swap you 2000z each for," the would-be magician suggested, perhaps in an attempt to stay in the alchemist's good graces.

"Ah hahahaha!" Knowing the truth of the matter, but having absolutely zero desire to tell Vinzez at this point, all Anathema could really do to respond to him was laugh. "All right, but don't say you weren't warned!~" Or that the money she just received wasn't well deserved.

With that, the hologram vanished, and she was able to entirely focus on her own world once again. SellSoul was less than happy at the idea of taking the GMO back, but her mind was made up. "No memento, sorry. But hey, at least my regular appearance shows my figure off nicely too, right?" She performed one final 'lovely assistant pose' for them, to demonstrate. If anything, her default outfit might actually have been even more suited to show off her ample bosom.

"Hmm? Oh, that? You're very welcome! Stage magic's more fun than I thought it'd be! And I bet it'd be even better if the magician didn't have a 10 foot stick permanently lodged in his ass!" Hmm, the whole package, huh. Well, she did consider herself pretty bright, and none of them were blind, so..."Heh, thanks! I dunno about brawn, anyway...I don't think muscle mass would really look good on me. I'll just stick to magic, thanks!" She hovered a few inches off the ground, and snapped her fingers, causing a small orb of shadow energy to form over her hand, before quickly fading. "...Yeah, I guess we should all head back, huh? I doubt any of our operators are worried, but still." She smiled and nodded as the other Navis departed. "It's a date!" For now, though, her only date was with Alda's PET. Stage magic was fun, but tiring. Besides, she wanted to see how things were going over there. And..jack out beam #3.

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Alda's initial response to Clarence was to just stare at him with an annoyed expression and stony silence, which, if nothing else, made it pretty clear that he needed to tread carefully. Fortunately, changing the subject to the goop softened her expression, and she nodded. "That's probably a good idea, even if you never plan to use it for the obvious. Though, I'd love it if I could make magic require a little less faith, and a little more fact."

Mallory's response made the witch scowl, but it faded into a snicker as she was interrupted. "I think you just stole my line. F U, indeed." It did not fade as Mundwoon made it clear that it was possible for her to spread something, but hearing Clair speak made her frown a bit. "Yeah...I'm reeeeeeally not in the mood now." Well, emotionally. Physically, she was still ready to take on all comers. "We'll see about next time. Maybe if we...had a bit more privacy?" She shot a glare at everyone else, though Clarence surprisingly got spared. Perhaps more surprising to her, she didn't straight up refuse the offer. But that was some powerful goop...another application and she might be raring to have at it.

Speaking of having things, she would indeed have a shot to score some of it...if she had anything that could be used as a container. "Seriously?! Do I look like I carry a lot of things with me?! ...I guess it's just not meant to be. What's on me right now is useless from a scientific perspective, though...it's got me in it, and probably a little of Clair as well, to put it overly simply." The entire time, Alda had been going around, gathering what clothing she did wear, and putting it back on. At this point, she was 100% dressed (by her standards, anyway), and grabbed her PET and related equipment. "Yes, I did want chips. Pure elemental forces, preferably." Okay, let's see what they each did. FlameLine...caused flames to rise from the ground. Cool. DollThunder...shot electricity forward. Neat. IceWave...froze enemies with ice energy. Yeah, those would do rather nicely. "No, I think Anathema will like all of those. Thank you." Fire, electricity, and ice...three classic forces. Perfect for a Navi mage. She collected the three chips, and added them to her folder. If nothing else, they'd be better NetBattlers after she went through all that.

"Whoa!" As if on cue, her Navi reappeared in her PET, and immediately took a look around. "Really, Alda? I was out doing work, and you're over here having a sexy party?"

"Trust me, it wasn't a party."

"Uh-huh. So no one made out with anyone?...Hey, are you blushing? Eeee! Who'd you make out with?"

"...We'll talk about what happened later. Right now, I'm outta here."

"Aww...hey, wait! That guy's got a boner! Are you kidding me? A sexy party, and no one's doing anything to fix that? C'mon ladies, you've all got tons of ways to alleviate that!"

"Aaaaand that's my cue. See you around, people." And with that rather indistinct farewell, Alda exited the locker room, ready to alleviate some things of her own.

((Anathema gets:

26 SellSoul FXP
16 Seer FXP
3 Pilfer FXP
31 Scout FXP
2 GrudgeMan FXP
9 GeistMan FXP
9 ReflectMan FXP))