The Thaumaturge Ch 04

Author's Note: the next couple of chapters feature more premise-establishing and world-building and less focus on the sex. It's still in there, obviously, but if you're looking for a quicker finish, you may wish to read a different story. :)

--

In the end, I decided to reach out to Diana.

I have to admit, I was torn. I knew the least about Diana, after all. But she hadn't lied to me, hadn't gone on a date with me under false pretenses. Both Viv

and

Lauren could've told me more if they had wanted to.

I knew she was friends with Viv and Lauren, or at least on friendly enough terms to be in that photo. And that she had made me cum in my pants during a jiu jitsu class, I guess. I still couldn't believe that had happened.

Beyond that, I didn't know anything about her -- but she didn't know anything about me either. Didn't know I had met Viv or Lauren. That might be helpful.

This was one of those decisions that, in retrospect, turned out to be a big deal. You'll see why soon enough.

---

Anyway, decision made, I texted my coach.

Matt: hey, can you give me Diana's phone number or email? I want to ask if she wants to watch the next UFC fight with some of the guys.

Coach: Matt. She just joined the gym. If you hit on her I will be very disappointed.

It was a reasonable assumption.

Matt: That isn't the plan, coach. Honest.

I was being honest. Even if she was hot, and even if thinking about how she'd moved against me during class made me think she'd be incredible in bed.

Coach: OK. See you next week. You have to work on taking the initiative more btw, it looked to me like you're playing a very defensive game. Probably why she beat you. She was on offense more.

My face flushed reading that. The coach obviously didn't know it, but

on offense

had to be the euphemism of the century.

Matt: Thanks coach. Will do.

His next message was her phone number.

I gave him a thumbs up emoji.

---

I debated texting Diana, but decided to call. Better to get her reactions in real time. I punched the numbers in and hit dial before I could overthink this further. The phone picked up on the first ring. My heart was beating fast.

Here we go.

"Yeah, hello?" A woman's voice, guarded. I recognized Diana.

"Is this Diana? It's Matt, from the gym earlier today; the coach gave me your number."

"Oh hey,

Matt

. What's up? Hoping to set up a rematch? You don't have to worry, I signed up for a membership after that open mat, so we can just roll again next week...unless you were hoping for a different kind of rematch..." She sounded amused.

I blushed. "N-no, uh, that is...I'm...wondering if I can ask you some questions."

"Oh yeah? About my

good technique?"

Even through the phone, I could hear that half-smile on her face.

I tried to muscle past the teasing, decided to opt for direct. "N-no. I'm, um...a thaumaturge. And, uh, I could use some...help understanding what that means."

I didn't know what it meant, but the word had the impact I had been hoping for: the dead silence on the other end lasted a full ten seconds. When she did respond, her voice was neutral. "Where'd you hear that word?"

I hesitated, trying to decide whether to lie, or maybe which lie to tell.

But before I could say anything, she spoke again. "You know what? It doesn't matter. You're gonna get yourself hurt, or worse, if you just go around

announcing

it like that. Let's talk. In person. Someplace quiet, but public. Got a favorite dive bar or something? Meet in half an hour?"

---

Thirty minutes later, I was at the Dew Drop Inn -- the same place I'd met Lauren for the first date that had started all of this. I didn't see Diana; I must've arrived first. I sat in one of the corner booths where I'd be able to see her come in. It was Sunday afternoon, and there weren't many people.

The anticipation of finally getting some

answers

was killing me. I ordered a beer and took big, long swigs.

Diana showed up late, nearly a full twenty minutes after me. Her eyes scanned the restaurant, noted me, and then kept scanning. I could tell she was giving the place a very thorough once over -- for what, I wasn't sure. But she seemed satisfied, and eventually approached.

Her short black hair looked a little damp. She was wearing a tank top, some gym shorts, and slides -- it looked like she had just come from showering at the gym, or maybe she was just having a lazy Sunday afternoon. The tank was a ratty Metallica t-shirt, sleeves removed. A few holes revealed a white sports bra underneath, peeking through in several places.

This outfit gave me a much better view of her tattoos than her jiu jitsu gi had. And she was absolutely covered in a head-turning number of tattoos. Most of them seemed to be of animals, done in black ink. A jellyfish and a squid wrapped around each other up the length of one arm, forming a sleeve. A gorilla on her right thigh. A lioness, or maybe a panther, on her left. Some kind of big bird of prey -- an eagle, maybe, or a falcon -- on her other arm.

Admittedly, though, my gaze mostly lingered on those gym shorts as she twisted sideways to get into the booth. Fuck, she

really

filled them out.

She sat down across from me just as the server was walking past. She ordered a shot of Jameson.

Her brown eyes met mine, and quirked up into that lazy smile for just a second. "If you just heard that word someplace and this is some kind of weird attempt to get me out on a date with you, you're going to regret it." I could hear the threat in her voice.

I shook my head. I opened my mouth to say something, to thank her for being willing to talk.

Diana held up one finger. "Okay, look, I don't really know you. So I don't really

trust

you. And beyond that, it's pretty fucking clear you have no idea what you're doing."

I closed my mouth and just nodded instead of speaking.

She continued. "But I think we could help each other out. So let's make this an even exchange of information. We trade questions. You ask one, I answer. Then I get to ask you a question. You answer it. We take turns. When one of us doesn't want to answer, we're done here."

I considered this. "How can I trust that you'll be honest?"

She laughed. "We'll count this as a freebie, not as your first question. You can't, not entirely. But I can't either, can I? I'm willing to do this because I think you can be helpful to me. So I'm going to be straight with you, as long as you're straight with me. If you think I'm lying, you should get up and leave."

I could be

helpful

to her? Well, that piqued my interest.

Diana must've read some expression on my face, because she added, "

And

, before you get some idea that you've got the advantage here, I've obviously got something you want, too:

information

. So you'll want to be honest with me, or I won't help

you

. The minute I think you're peddling bullshit, I'm out of here too."

I nodded. "Fair enough."

She sat back and crossed her arms. "So: you can go first. Ask."

"What's a thaumaturge?" My mouth was suddenly dry.

Finally

.

I kept my voice low. She gave a cursory glance aorund, and then responded, her voice a quiet monotone. It sounded like she was rattling off a definition.

"Thaumaturges are a type of willworker. They practice thaumaturgy: the art of transmuting

effort

into

magic

."

I blinked.

Magic?

But she looked serious. "What the fuck? Magic?" I was incredulous.

"That's

another

question and it's not your turn to ask anymore. So I'm not going to answer. But I'll help anyway." She paused and, without any ceremony, downed the shot of Jameson.

Then, she leaned forward, put her elbow on the table, and gave me that little smile. "Arm wrestle me."

I looked at her, still incredulous. "How will that help?"

I was in good shape. And we had rolled earlier today. She was strong, for a woman; but I

knew

I was stronger than her. She probably knew it, too.

She raised an eyebrow. "Scared you'll lose? You tapped to a girl once already today, remember?" The little smile got bigger. "And you didn't seem to mind."

"That's not why--" But I could see she was just trying to get a rise out of me. I rolled my eyes, shrugged, and reached across the table to clasp hands with her.

Her hand was warm, and her grip was strong.

I began exerting force, slowly. I didn't want to hurt her. But she was strong enough to resist, so I started applying some serious pressure. I could see the muscles in my arm cording and shifting as I struggled.

To my surprise, it felt like attempting to bend an iron bar with one hand. There was

zero

give, none. I applied

even more

force. My elbow and shoulder were starting to complain about the torque they were under. I glanced up at her in astonishment.

She looked

bored

, if anything, just that slight smile. "Use both hands, if you want. Just don't hurt yourself, ok?"

I brought my other hand on top of my first, throwing my weight into it, giving it all I could. Her arm maybe wavered, a tiny bit.

Maybe

.

And then, slowly, inexorably, she twisted her arm and shoulder, pinning the back of both my hands to the table in a single movement.

I watched it happen, disbelief on my face, resisting as hard as I could, as she pinned my hands. She did it smoothly. Controlled. The same way I would win in an arm-wrestling match against a four-year-old -- easily, but carefully, so I didn't injure them.

She let go after that, and I shook my arms out; my shoulder ached.

It was the very first time I had felt the effects of magic firsthand.

I handled it about as well as you'd expect.

"That was--you must know some kind of

trick

, or--" I spluttered.

She was shaking her head, watching me. No smile now, serious again. "Whatever. You just got way more proof than most people get. If you still think magic is bullshit, fine. I've answered you, and then some. My turn to ask a question: where'd you first run into the word thaumaturge?"

My mind was reeling. Weird things had been happening, yes. But

magic

?

And then I realized she'd asked me a question. I considered what to do for a moment. Lie?

But she'd been honest with me

, I thought. I did not want to piss her off. My elbow twinged.

I opted for truthful. "I, uh, went on a date with a girl. We hooked up. Afterwards, she was texting. I got to look at her phone. One of her friends used the word."

Diana leaned forward, her voice intense. "Who?"

I shook my head, recovering my mental equilibrium at least a little bit. "No, now it's your turn to answer."

But I didn't know how to pick what to ask; questions swirled around each other in my mind, and I was still stuck on one thing: how

impossible

it was for her to have been that strong. "How...how'd you

do

that, the arm wrestling? I mean, when we rolled earlier, you were strong, but not like..."

She shook her head. "You're an idiot. What a waste of a question. I already told you --

magic

. It was a spell I prepared before coming here, because I wasn't sure what I was walking into. It doesn't last long, takes a lot of power, but it's effective. There's not much point to casting that sort of spell before jiu jitsu class -- it's a lot of effort, and the whole point of class is to work on

technique

anyway."

A

spell

? I thought of the photo of her, Viv, Lauren...dressed up for Halloween, and the implication hit me. It was so...

cliche

. "You're... a

witch?

" I stammered it out, disbelief in my voice.

She rolled her eyes. "Another waste of a question, but it's my turn, so I'm not answering that anyway. Now: who were you hooking up with, when you heard the word?"

Witches. Magic.

I refocused on her question, trying to decide whether there was some reason to only give her one name. But I opted for forthcoming, in the hopes of gauging her reactions to both.

"Um...Lauren..." I hesitated, watching her expression. She looked a little...

relieved

, maybe. Certainly unconcerned.

"...She was texting with Vivian," I added, after a beat.

A scowl leapt onto her face in an instant. "

Ugh

," she said. The derision in her voice was clear.

Interesting

. "What do you have against..." But I stopped myself. I wasn't sure that was what I actually wanted to know the most. "The spell, how did you..." But that wasn't right, either. I paused, gathering my thoughts for a moment. She watched me, amused by my indecision.

What would actually help me understand what was going on?

"What's...what's that mean, what you said earlier? Transmuting effort into magic?"

She pursed her lips. "Look, there are undoubtedly technical explanations for how it all works; that's not really my forte.. I was never that interested in magical theory. But basically, you create magical power, energy, better than other people.

Everyone

creates magic through applying willpower; that's how magical power is generated. Thaumaturges are better at it. Good thaumaturges are a

lot

better at it. Like..."

She mulled it over for a moment. "You ever seen those kits where you can use a potato to power a lightbulb?"

I nodded.

"Most of us are potatoes. Thaumaturges are like...

actual batteries

, or whatever."

The engineer in me immediately began dissecting this analogy. "Wait, but if I'm a battery, then what's the lightbulb? Is the magic electric current? The charge itself? This doesn't--"

She cut me off. "Okay, relax, Einstein. You just learned magic is real like five minutes ago. Like I said, I'm not big on the theory of it all; maybe batteries and potatoes isn't quite right. But you get my point, yeah? Thaumaturges generate magical energy better than other people. More...efficiently. Through their effort. Got it?"

I had a million more questions, but I bit my tongue. "Okay, yeah, I guess. Your turn."

She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then: "During our jiu jitsu roll earlier, you, uh...lost control pretty fast, there, big guy. You mentioned my good technique, which I'm sure

helped

, but..." her nose crinkled with amusement. "Are you always so...

sensitive

?"

Was she really spending a question on this? My face reddened. "I, uh...I mean, not

every

...it was just that...you...uh..." I trailed off into silence. She had started laughing with the very first stammered word, and it only intensified as I kept talking.

"Holy shit." She was wiping at her eyes as her laughter subsided. "I thought that might be the case, but that sure confirms it. Wow. Okay, your turn."

I was reeling, trying to think about what to ask. I was curious why she had spent a question on that; I didn't think she just wanted to humiliate me, so it must be something else. I opened my mouth to ask about that...but there was something else nagging at me. I still didn't have the full story about how thaumaturgy worked. She had said I had something she wanted. Vivian and Lauren clearly wanted to stay in touch with me, too...

I went with the most straightforward question I could ask. "You said I have something you want. What is it?"

She shrugged. "I already told you. You make power efficiently, like I said. I get to use it. That strength spell I used just now? Building up that much energy myself would take...I dunno, a few hours of really hard work to prepare for, ordinarily. Think like...like running a half-marathon, or something. Thanks to you, though, I could do it a few more times today, if I wanted."

Thanks to me?

I was still confused. And...

running a half marathon

? Another questionable analogy.

But it was her turn, now. "How long ago was it, when you saw Laur and Viv texting about thaumaturges?"

Laur and Viv

. The nicknames rolled off her tongue with easy familiarity.

"Two days ago," I answered, truthfully.

She nodded. She looked satisfied with that.

"So...how did I...charge your batteries, or whatever?" The pieces were clicking into place, and I had an obvious guess. But I wanted to make sure, because it seemed...well, kind of absurd.

She leaned in, brown eyes locked on mine, knowing.

And then -- under the table -- I felt her foot, against my crotch.

"You

know

, Matt. You were trying to hold back...but you couldn't." She gave me that lazy half-smile again, and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Thaumaturges make effort into power. And a lot of effort went into trying not to

cum in your pants

, didn't it?"

I was getting hard at the memory, the intimate tone in her voice, the teasing words. The feel of her foot, gently massaging my cock and balls.

Fuck

.

"My turn to ask a question. So: you hooked up with Laur. Viv, too, right?"

Most of my attention was now locked on the sensation of her foot sliding along my rapidly hardening length. I had never had a...

footjob

, before. Let alone in a bar. I looked around, nobody seemed to be noticing -- you'd have to be looking under our table deliberately to see it happening.

"I asked a question, Matt." Diana's voice was amused.

It snapped me back. "U-uh...yeah. Viv too."

Diana snorted her disapproval, a sour expression on her face. "I figured. Guys always want her. What was it...the big tits? The flirty personality? Never mind, those aren't actually questions. Your turn."

She had picked up the pace. I glanced down at my lap, the sight of her foot, toes curling as she kneaded, rubbing her sole along my length with just the right amount of pressure, doing all of this through my jeans...fuck, it felt incredible.

How was she so good at this?

I tried to think through the haze of arousal, settling on information that might be useful to me. "Why, uh, why do you seem to hate Viv so much?"

Diana hesitated; the silence stretched, before she spoke. "We had a falling out, a year or two back. She...asked me to do something. She should never have asked me to do it. I shouldn't have done it either, I knew better. But I did it anyway. People got hurt. Things turned out badly. We parted ways. And if you press me for more details than that, I'm going to leave."

I filed that away for later. It was getting hard to focus on anything besides the physical sensations anyway. Her foot was insistent, urgent, now, moving rhythmically against me. It reminded me almost exactly of the way our jiu jitsu match had ended. I bit back a moan.

"My turn." That small smile, as she leaned forward again. "Want me to make you cum, Matt?"

"I-I--" I laughed, helplessly, the arousal of the situation, the absurdity of her asking that alongside all of these other questions, finally getting to me. "That's seriously your question?"

She nodded, sly. "I could tell you

didn't

want it in jiu jitsu. Not that it mattered what you wanted; I wasn't going to let you tap me. I want to know if you want it now. I could use the boost of energy after the spell I just cast..."

Then she leaned in again, smug. "...But if you want me to make you cum in your pants

again

, you have to

ask

for it, this time."

I glanced around the room. Again, nobody could see us. I felt a little ashamed. I was really going to cum from her

feet

, massaging my cock? But it felt so good.

I met her gaze. She gave me that knowing half-smile, and an especially slow, teasing movement of her foot against me.

She knew what I was going to say.

I looked away, embarrassed.

"Yeah," I muttered. I was too turned on to give any other answer.

"Hmm? Couldn't hear you." Diana was very pleased with herself.

I reddened. "Y-yeah, I want...you to make me cum."