Do your stuff.
The Spire issued a rushing jet of black gas. It formed into a spherical mass that sparkled like a dark star. It floated in place, neither shrinking nor expanding. A murmur spread through the audience as it hung on past a minute. This was no amateur effort! Slowly, reluctantly, it thinned, until at last it sank to the ground and dissipated into a trace of goo.
“Time,” the judge said. “Ninety seconds.”
“The winner,” the announcer said, amazed.
“Micro.”
Prior relaxed in relief. The Spire had come through.
I COULD HAVE MADE IT TWO MINUTES, BUT DIDN’T WANT TO BE OBVIOUS. A NEW RECORD WOULD HAVE BEEN SUSPICIOUS.
Thank you, Prior thought as he walked away from the arena. People were closing in on him, eager to learn more of him, now that he had made his sudden fame as a worthy farter. The other contestants looked on, scowling. They didn’t like being bested by a rank amateur. Smellie hugged him and kissed him impulsively.
“You were great!”
“Just get me out of here. I don’t want to answer questions.”
She took possessive charge.
“Micro is tired from his great performance. He needs to rest now. I’m sure you understand.”
She took Prior’s hand and hauled him away.
When they were safely in her house she kissed him again.
“Oh, Micro, that was absolutely wonderful! You showed them all.”
“You helped,” he said.
“I was glad to. Oh, this village has never seen a fart like that! Hardly anyone can do a black one, and they mostly poop out in a few seconds. What a spectacle!”
She served him a nice meal made from her new supplies. The time seemed right to broach his special idea.
“Smellie, if you had a pretty face, you could land a good man, right?”
“Oh sure. Men care about faces almost as much about bottoms, once their edge is off. But what’s the use debating that? I’m a realist.”
“I may have a way to give you that face. But it would not be an easy process.”
“What are you talking about?”
“As I said before, I have a magic fart. It can be turned to several different things. I could make a fart that would melt your face and allow it to heal in a prettier image. But you would need to keep it swathed for several days, and there might be pain. Thereafter your face would be as nice as your nature.”
She sat down, awed. “You can really do this?”
“I believe so. But it could be risky. Magic can be dangerous in the hands of amateurs, and I’m an amateur.”
“Let me think about it.”
As they settled down to sleep, after making their evening excursion to the public privy, she hesitated, then spoke. “You’ve been so good to me, I really shouldn’t ask anything more.”
“Ask.”
“Last night we clasped, and you were concerned because I didn’t climax with you. Tonight I can put on a show that—”
“No. I don’t want fakery.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say. So my idea is, maybe I should try it for real, this one time. Let you simulate—as if we’re—that much would be an act, of course but—”
“In love?”
She blushed.
“In pretense. So I can fool myself into letting it happen. Forgetting myself. I know it’s a lot to ask.”
“I’ve never had a woman to love me. That’s why I’m going after the Maiden in the Tower. She’s supposed to be my ideal woman, and my hope is that she’ll truly come to feel it. It’s the biggest thing I’ve missed in my life.”
“Yes, and I wouldn’t even think of interfering with that. Tomorrow you’ll go to her, and I hope you succeed. But tonight, in pretense—” She broke off. “Maybe it’s a stupid idea.”
“I like it. We can say the words and do the acts, knowing it’s only for tonight. Completing our association.”
“Oh, thank you,” she breathed. When night came, they joined each other in the bed, in darkness.
“I—I don’t know what to say,” Prior said, feeling awkward. “I’ve never—”
“Just hold me, beloved.” Relieved that she knew how to proceed, he put his arms around her. She was all warm woman. He kissed her, and she was all melting love. It was so nice that he just kept holding and kissing her for a while, then stroked her hair.
“You’re beautiful.”
“I have dreamed of this moment.” She was better at this than he was, but he was learning.
“I never had the wit to dream of love, just sex.”
“And I want it with you, dear.”
It was stupid, but that word “dear” sent a wash of pleasure through him.
“Oh, this is great!” He hardly cared whether they had sex; it was just so nice loving her. “Darling,” he added belatedly.
She kissed him more ardently. She caught one of his hands and brought it to her breast. He had stroked breasts before, but this time it had more meaning. He put his face down and kissed it. She shifted just enough to slide the nipple to his mouth, and he kissed that too, feeling it swell. She held his head to her bosom, breathing harder, and each breath pressed it firmer and softer against his face.
“I’m getting warm,” she murmured. “But not there yet. Can you enter me without ejaculating right away?”
As it happened, he had jetted that afternoon, and his response was a bit slower than usual. He got in position and entered her carefully, and it was all right. He did not thrust, but just held position, kissing her mouth again.
“Oh, my love, my love,” she said. “I love you so much.”
“I love you,” he echoed, feeling it. Her vagina softened around him, and tightened. He repeated the words, and got a similar response. She was sexually turned on by words of love. Soon she came to the climax, and clasped him tightly, kissing him constantly, while her vagina convulsed.
It was too much. He had to thrust, and thrust again, his orgasm over whelming. She clung to him, meeting him with her closure, taking all that he had to give. He felt himself spurting, felt her accepting it, in a phenomenal mutual climax.
Yet it was not the end. He kept kissing her. “I love you, I love you!” His penis was diminishing, but not his passion. He couldn’t let go of the feeling.
“Yes, yes,” she breathed, meeting him kiss for kiss. But finally they relaxed.
“Yes, that’s what I never had,” he said.
“I neither.” Then, after a pause: “In the morning, before you go—I’ll take that fart.”
They relaxed into sleep, embraced. It was wonderful.
Chapter 12—Curse
Veil watched the next qualifier. He tackled the demoness orally, turning her on with kisses of the face and breasts, then licking her vulva expertly until she climaxed. He was good enough so that it made Veil react; she could live with that kind of sex. But there was bound to be a catch.
There was.
“I am impotent,” he informed her when she interviewed him.
“But then what would you want with me?”
“That is why I want you. I have a strong desire for sex, and my doctor says I have the physical capacity for it. But I can’t get an erection in the presence of a woman. It’s psychological, perhaps the result of some early episode I can’t remember. I believe that if I once have real sexual experience with a woman, the barrier will be gone, and I will then be able to do it with other women.”
“I’m not sure how I can give you that experience. It would more likely be an exercise in frustration for you.”
“Not necessarily so. You will be committed; you will neither laugh at me nor avoid me. Your interest is in having sexual experience with me. That should make a difference.”