Learning from the Dark Side

"Probability manipulation... Fascinating. So then I guess 'luck' is a measurable value that can be controlled and changed, or maybe it's simply the net total of all reactions and reactions of reactions..."

The gears were turning full tilt in Orion's head as he considered the possibilities and explanations for such a power. Just as Bell had described, magic seemed to be a science that simply dabbled more heavily in the grey areas that regular science avoided. Things like chance, life forces, and spirits were normal things to be manipulated and altered by the caster, rather than variables to be avoided or discounted. But all of that also opened up more questions about the nature of those variables. For example, if luck was an intangible but measurable quantity, where did it come from?

It was an exciting concept that refused to leave Orion's mind alone, leaving his body to squirm and move about excitedly while his clothes fell off like shed skin. His clothes weren't merely slippery, they seemed to be stretchy as well. With no buttons or zippers undone, his pants still slipped casually to the floor, followed by his shirt, making a pool of cloth around his ankles. He was left in his shorts, but he hardly cared. Delise was giving another demonstration.

"... Oh. I see! So hexes can alter that previously-established properties of something too! Like how your shirt suddenly became one thread."

Orion was excited by the concept of hexes. He needed to know more. Delise's display and sultry come-ons were merely a bonus. Energetic and obviously excited, Orion grabbed onto Delise's shoulders like he was afraid she was going somewhere.

"I'm hungry for more! You gotta show me more hexes, and how they work. I'll do anything!"

The moment the "Y" in "anything" left his mouth, Orion knew he had made a poor choice in words. Momentarily blinded by eager curiosity, he had forgotten what Delise was. Her kind took too well to open offers from men, and maybe women. Writing a blank check to anyone was already a poor idea in the first place. Writing it to a demonic woman who could drain him of his literal and figurative essence? Orion was apparently asking for so-good-it's-bad time.

However, between the sumptuous woman draped all over his body and his overwhelming need to know everything she could offer in terms of hexes and magical spells, Orion had only one option to take. Or rather, he convinced himself that it was the only option to take.

The hands on her arms released their grip and slipped down her body, down her sides, until they reached her hips. After that, he dropped to his knees in front of her while looking up, a little pleadingly.

"How much convincing do you need, Miss Delise?"

"I understand. But--nngh."

The little bit of hair-pulling was also tugging the familiar masochist back out of Orion. He allowed himself to be controlled just that much by Delise. Not that he could have fought back much at all considering the position he had put himself in. Being on one's own knees before another was quite the overt statement of submission after all.

"But I don't intend to use them against you. I just want to know how they work."

Orion obediently scooted backward to give Delise her space when she wanted it, and he watched expectantly as she conjured paper from thin air. It was not the flashiest show of magic he had ever seen from her, but he watched all the same. When it looked like a contract, however, his curious look became more quizzical. He tilted his head and looked up at her.

"Servitude...?"

Looking away for a moment, he thought about the idea of signing some kind of magical contract. Being Delise's plaything was one thing. But literally signing on some mystical contract seemed like an actual risk, even if the pay off sounded worth it. Looking back at her, he held his hand out to the paper.

"Can I... read it first? Don't get me wrong, Miss Delise, I want to learn everything you can offer me. But there's a thing or two even I don't think I'm ready to sign away."

The most pressing issue in his mind was anything that could permanent keep him away form Bell. Letting Delise be his capital-M Mistress was great and all, but he still wanted to go back to Bell when everything was said and done.

Orion felt a little bad for bringing their little moment to a screeching halt with a question about contractual legalities, but it was his nature to do that. As much as he liked getting his hair pulled by a beautiful woman, he was still an intelligent man of science and men of science always carried around a hefty amount of skepticism. He tried to make up for it by reading the contract as fast as he could so they could get back to having fun.

As he read it, he found it a little hard to believe that Delise was the one who wrote it because it was written in the typical legalese, dense and difficult to comprehend. He wondered if she conjured it from some contract-writing demon or if the spell she used automatically applied the necessary wording to a magical contract. But all in all, he was okay with what he read. It seemed fair and there was no hidden cost that he could find.

"I think I can abide by this."

Holding out his hand, the robot arm that inhabited the Ship descended and dropped a pen in his hand. Before retracting back upward, it paused to seemingly look at Delise for a moment. It was gone after Orion had put his signature on the paper. He handed it back like a puppy handing the newspaper to its master.

"Deal is done! Now show me what you got!"

Only after giving back the contract did Orion remember that he was almost entirely naked, save for his shorts. The rest of his clothes were still lying in a strangely-slippery pile back where he had stood previously. He wondered if the hex she placed on those things was still in effect, or if it had worn off at that point. Leaving him divested of his clothes seemed to be the point of the hex, which she had described as a form of probability manipulation. So with their end goal accomplished (i.e. Orion naked), did the hex go away? On the same note, would she be able to reassemble her shirt from that one string she made of it, even though the end goal of leaving her almost topless could be reversed by that action?

So many questions. Orion's head was abuzz with hypothesis and possible experiments to run. The little lick on his cheek brought him back to the real world, reminding him that there other... things he could be keeping his mind on instead.

Still kneeling on the ground, he held his cheek and felt the warmth of Delise. Nodding eagerly, he awaited whatever demonstration she had in mind. With the space she put between them, he expected another conjuring or perhaps a summoning in the space. But instead, the warmth on his cheek surged through his body and he felt like a man lost in the desert.

"Wha...? What is... going on?"

In mere moments, he was panting and starting to sweat. Some invisible sun was beating down on his head and his mind raced to put the pieces together. He wasn't sick and the room seemed the same. So the heat was internal. It was the hex, but was that it? Was she just going to burn him?

"D-Delise. Ahh..."

Her touch was like water washing over him and he even thought her heard sizzling as the heat dissipated from his skin. Orion put it all together just as Delise explained it.

"So... It's proximity-based. A tether. W-What causes the h-heat?"

He tried to hold on for as long as he could when she backed away from him. But his breath caught fire in his throat and his limbs felt like they were melting. If he wanted answers, he would literally have to play her game.

Panting, but with fire in his own eyes, he tried standing to over to Delise. His legs gave away quickly after a few steps, and he was forced to kneel and rest a moment before continuing until he was just crawling to her, still trying to talk.

"Wh-What are the extremes of *pant* this hex? What happens if... if I'm just... just right on you?"