Author's note: This story contains elements of reluctant/nonconsensual sex. All characters, including mythical creatures, are over the age of eighteen.
Thanks for reading!
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I didn't even know that there were female genies.
Djesse - I later learned that was her name - erupted like warm Champagne, spewing from the figurine in my hand. Her power tore through the cramped storage room, raging in a cyclone of chromatic energy, alternately azure, coral, and cream.
"Who," a resonant voice demanded, "has woken me? And what predictable reward do you seek?"
I stumbled back, clutching frantically for anything to help keep me upright. "I, I... what?"
"Who?" Djesse's presence was that of a tornado, an earthquake, and a sunrise.
"I'm Amy!" I shrieked. The door was somewhere behind me but I couldn't locate the knob.
"Amy," Djesse said, the tornado voice softening into that of a tropical storm. "And we're speaking English. I see that this least poetic of languages has yet to die."
"What the fuck?" I turned, seeking the door that had let me into the room, but when I clutched at the handle it turned into an octopus. I jerked my hand back. "What is happening?"
"You've woken me," Djesse said. The initial torrent of raw energy was beginning to slow, and the blinding streams of light were settling into shapes my mind could grasp. "You touched me."
"I was just cleaning the artifacts."
"That statue was my home!" Djesse bellowed. For a moment her energy spiked again, rushing in a coil to the ceiling to spin and rage before coalescing once more. I could just make out a stern, beautiful female face assembled from the strands of power.
"I'm sorry!" I clutched again at the door but the handle became in turn a serpent, noodles, and a silk scarf.
"You may not leave," the spirit said with a bored air. "Not until I grant you a wish."
"You... you're a genie?"
"Yes."
"But, there's no lamp here. Just these little statues."
"Oh, please." Djesse coalesced into an approximation of the female form but then broke apart into a thousand shards that hung in the air. "The myth of the lamp! No, it is my curse that anything, any venerated object, can be a prison."
"I don't want a wish. I just want to go, please!"
"Hmmmph." The shards recombined into the female form once more. Djesse was pretty, even if quite severe. "You can't. The same forces that bound me to the statue demand that you make a wish and that I grant it. Until then we're both trapped in this... tomb?"
"It's a museum facility!" I explained. "You see, the Smithsonian Institution can't display all of its artifacts at any one time, so we take them here to be-"
"Blah, blah, blah..." Djesse said with a note of sarcastic boredom that would have been better suited to a fourteen-year-old than an ancient spirit. "What is your wish?"
I knew what I wanted. That cute bungalow I passed on the way to work every day, to be free of debt, and a man who wasn't a creep. Maybe some shoes. But everyone knows how genies will trick you. The bungalow will burn down on the first day, your debt will have been bought by the mafia, and the charming man will rob you blind. The shoes will give you blisters.
My mind raced, scrambling to identify a wish that couldn't be turned against me. Something so altruistic that it was unimpeachable.
"I want no always to mean no."
"Mmm, what?"
It was perfect! Earlier that day I had attended a lecture from a brilliant feminist who had driven home the theme of consent. She had punctuated her message with a powerful demand that "No means no!" By the end of the lecture, the entire audience had been chanting it with her, hundreds of voices raised in support. Leaving the hall, I had felt more empowered than I could recall, practically floating through the rest of my afternoon.
"Any time a man makes an unwanted approach, touch, or comment, a woman need only say no and he'll stop immediately."
Djesse dissolved and spun through the room, pouring over and around me like fine sand. "There is none mightier than I," her disembodied voice roared. "But to change the behavior of four billion men? That is beyond even my power."
I reconsidered. Perhaps merely having shown Djesse that I was thinking of others would make her less disposed to trick me. "For me, then," I countered. "Let those men I meet always treat me as I have described. Their example will guide others."
The sandstorm ebbed and Djesse assumed human shape once more, towering over me by a head, at once both enticing and intimidating. "You don't want that."
"Why not?"
"Men are men. Do you want all of those you meet to be neutered? Your future lovers? Your future husband?"
The message of the feminist lecturer came back to me. "Being respectful doesn't make a man less of a man, it makes him more of one."
With a sigh, Djesse took in the cramped artifact storeroom. "Freedom," she muttered, seemingly to herself. "I propose a test," she said, turning to me. "I will place you into a dream where what you wish for has come to pass. If after you wake you still wish for that world, I will make it so. Or I could just make you rich right now."
Don't fall for her tricks,
I thought. "I'll take the dream test. How long until I-"
***
Not long at all, apparently. Mid-sentence the storeroom faded and I found myself standing in a meadow. Grass padded my bare feet while wildflowers in a dozen hues brushed my calves. I was wearing a flimsy wrap scarcely more substantial than a negligee.
I started to walk. There was no path through the dreamscape, but heavy forests bordered the meadow, dark and uninviting. I walked between them with the late afternoon sun on my back. Birds fluttered past, calling to each other or me as I settled into a content, relaxed stroll.
To my right a pale figure emerged from the forest, seeming to drift more than walk. It was converging on my path, slowly closing in. As it drew near I could see that it had at most the faint outline of a person but was mostly translucent. A wispy arm reached out.
"No," I said, putting force into my voice without yelling. At once the spirit dissolved.
Shortly two more spirits emerged to follow me. Again they drifted slowly toward me, and again I banished them with a 'no'. It was remarkably satisfying, the power that I felt, the control. I could enjoy my walk without the threat of harassment.
A spirit appeared to my left and I tried fruitlessly to send it away from a distance.
Of course,
I thought. I can't say 'no' to someone who hasn't tried anything yet. So I learned to wait until the spirits reached for me before I dispelled them.
But what would it feel like to be touched by something so insubstantial? The next time a spirit approached I let it get close enough to brush my shoulder. "No," I said, but not before I registered the sensation, which felt like no more than a puff of air.
As I walked, the woods to either side grew ever closer. Two spirits, one to my left and one to my right approached at the same time, both reaching out to grope me. "No," I said, dispelling the one to my left, but the one on my right managed to stroke my arm before I could send it away. The sensation, though faint, lingered for several seconds.
The spirits kept coming but grew more substantial. Each time one touched me, those that followed were more wholly formed. A spirit with an obvious torso and limbs stroked my ass, and the one that emerged next had a distinct head and neck. And they were definitely male. At first, they exhibited no more than blurry hints at something between their legs, but as they became increasingly fleshed-out, it grew clear that they had male anatomy. Some were small or average in size but soon those that emerged were better endowed, with plump balls.
A hand unexpectedly fondled my breast through the silky negligee. I yelped out a "no" and then immediately felt a stab of regret. The sensation had been sweet.
It isn't supposed to be like this,
I reminded myself. I needed to be firm, to teach them to obtain consent first. In a storm of anger at myself I banished the next ten spirits before any could touch me, but the memory of the hand on my breast remained.
I didn't have to wait long for more hands to find me. The men - I could no longer think of them as spirits - loped toward me in twos, threes, and fours. Some sauntered, walking parallel before closing in, while others dashed toward me on muscled legs, their swollen penises cutting the air.
"No," I said, "no, no, no." The men fell back but no longer disappeared. Most wandered back into the forest, but a few stuck around, watching from a distance as the new arrivals tried for me. "No!" I said, turning to dispel a grinning figure who had groped low on my ass. While I was distracted, fingers tugged at my negligee, pulling it well down my arm. Their touches were no longer wispy or frail. Strong male hands reached for me, some squeezing or stroking me before I could turn them away. A hard cock slapped against my hip.
"I just wanna see that body," a male voice whispered, close and urgent. He had snuck up behind me, and before I could react, pulled down the other side of my negligee. My breasts bounced free, sending a chorus of hoots and laughter through the group shadowing me.
"No," I gasped, and he walked away with a smirk, eyes brazenly admiring me.
With more men shadowing me, there was no time to fix my negligee. Without breaking my stride I tore it off and flung it to the ground where it was immediately snatched up by one of the men I had already warned off. He pressed it to his face, inhaling my scent while he began to stroke himself with his free hand.
"Omigod," I said, then quickly added a, "no," as another man's hand almost snagged my hip. I stumbled forward before regaining my footing. "No, no, no!" I shrieked, a desperate tone coloring my voice. There was no denying that I had been tentative, reluctant to banish my pursuers, guiltily enjoying their touch. They, in turn, became more confident.
