Joe's Quest for Magical Power (and a red bottom)

[goodgulf]

This was originally posted in the Woman Spanker section of the old board, and is one of a series of experiments I did while exploring that genre.

Note: I've been playing around with stories set in World where the importance of magic is slowly fading. I say worldS because I can't decide on a single way that the magic works in them. Anyway I've got several fragments, but finally finished a few.

Joe's Quest for Magical Power (and a red bottom)

"So what will the fair have?" Mindy demanded for the seventeenth time since they got in the car.

"I told you, I don't know." Heidi Jones told her daughter for the seventeenth time.

Then the exchange changed. Heidi would have preferred her daughter drop the subject, they were only maybe five minutes away from the fair and once there they would know what was there, but if all she could was a little variation in the conversation then she would be happy about that.

"Well can't you guess?" Mindy asked.

"Guess?"

"Yeah, you could guess at what would be there." Mindy suggested.

"Well you could guess too." Heidi pointed out.

"Yeah, but your guesses would be better than mine." Mindy countered.

"Well, maybe not." Heidi answered. "It's been a long time since I was to a fair like this one. We wouldn't be going to this one if daddy didn't have to work today."

"So why does he have to work?" Mindy pressed.

Heidi knew that real answer was that daddy's boss was a slave driver and daddy didn't have the balls to say "No, I'm on vacation so I won't type up a report and email it to you", but she would never said that out loud. She knew that he should have turned off his cell phone like she asked him to, but he hadn't, so now their plans were ruined. He was back at the motel typing up his report while Heidi searched for a way to amuse their daughter. A fair wasn't what she had in mind, but with their plans shot she didn't have much of a choice.

"He just does, that's all." Heidi answered. "But the fair's here and we can have fun there."

"So why don't you know what they'll have?" Mindy demanded.

"Well, that's because they do more magic here than we do at home." Heidi explained.

"Magic? Magic's fun! It's so cool!" Mindy exclaimed.

With the conversation turned to how fun magic was, the endless questions finally came to an end, which was as good a use for magic as Heidi could think of. The rest of the ride breezed by.

When they arrived at the fair Heidi paid to park in a grassy field, then paid their entrance fees, and then bought a ride bracelet for Mindy, then bought some cotton candy, then wondered why everything cost so much at these fairs.

"Let's do some games." Mindy insisted. "I want to win something."

Heidi looked at the games, wondering which ones Mindy had a chance of winning. The ring toss was a bust, and the dart game never gave out good prizes, and...

"Hey, that one's free!" Mindy exclaimed. "Let's go there!"

It sounded too good to be true. Looking over, Heidi saw a sign proclaiming it to be the "Washington County Mages Guild Fish Pond - Free to all under 12". Of course since it was associated with a mages guild the sign was glowing and all sparkly, but there was fine print that Heidi couldn't make out from here.

"Well it looks free." Heidi said. "Maybe we should check it out?"

As they got closer, she made out most of the fine print - the biggest part of it read "Out of Towners should talk to staff before playing", and she decided that she would do that.

[Maybe deleted most of the stuff above this point?]

Manning the Fish Pond was a terrible way to spend Saturday at the local fair, but Joe Robar didn't feel as if he had a choice. If he wanted to get a scholarship then he had to impress the people in the mages' guild, and there was no better way to impress them then to work at their booth. At least that's what Joe hoped was true, and if it wasn't he was wasting a beautiful day at the fair doing a crap job for nothing.

'Not quite nothing.' Joe mentally corrected. 'There's always that bonus.'

It wasn't really a bonus since it didn't come from the mages' guild or the fair, but Joe knew that if he wasn't working the booth he probably couldn't have made it. Well, there were those college level courses he was taking, that might have gotten him access to the manual, but if everyone didn't think he was gung-ho about the Fish Pond he wouldn't have been able to put his plane into action.

So there he was, wasting a day working the Fish Pond.

"Excuse me?"

Joe glanced away from the mob of kids 'fishing' and found a woman with a girl standing in front of him. Then he looked back to the kids fishing.

"Yes? Can I help you?" Joe answered, looking back at the kids. "And I'm sorry I can't give you my undivided attention. There should be three of us working the inside but someone called in sick."

"I'm Heidi Jones and this is my daughter, Mindy. The sign outside that this place was free, but that out of towners should talk to staff before playing. Is there some fee for people who aren't local."

Joe didn't bother correcting her wording. Technically the sign said "Washington County Mages Guild Fish Pond - Everyone a Winner - Free to all under 12", but the girl with her looked under 12 so Joe didn't think it was worth clarifying that minor point.

"No, of course not." Joe said, his eyes on the crowd. "The Washington County Mages Guild is sponsoring the whole thing as a gift to the kids. It's just that there are a few special features that all the locals know about that out of towners might not be aware of."

"We don't have magical fish ponds at our fair." Mindy said, piping up. "Why not?"

Joe was torn. Part of him wanted to give the real answer and explain how it all started with the Black Death. When the Black Death marched across the land it struck mages as lethally as regular people, only there were a lot more regular people then there were trained mages. With so many mages dead and the rest overwhelmed by the demand for their services, people had turned to technology for answers. That had led to the Renaissance, and the slow decline of the importance of magic.

And then there were wars, lots of wars. When the French mages fell to English arrows at the Battle of Agincourt it had been completely altered the balance of magic on the battlefield, and things hadn't stopped there. It took years to train a mage, and vast resources to bring one to full power, and all that could be brought low by a barrage of bullets fired by someone with six weeks training using a mass produced firearm. Sure, a mage could unload on the enemy with his magical might, but since World War One tanks had been used to replace mages there.

The 20th Century had been hard on mages. With the World Wars and all those bush fire wars there had been a steady drain on their numbers, while tech had advanced to the point where only the mightiest magics could out perform mass produced consumer goods. Common magics were falling out of use (some high schools no longer even had magic as part of their curriculum) and entry into the higher mysteries (the ones that paid big time) was getting harder and harder. From what Joe could tell, only about one percent of people who took magic in high school made it to higher mysteries, and if you excluded those going into the military and health care the odds were worse; maybe one in ten of those who made it to the higher mysteries did so independently.

Joe planned on being one of those lucky ones, which meant doing everything he could to improve his odds, and if that meant working this Saturday then it meant working this Saturday.

But that would take too long to explain, and most of it would go over the kid's head, so Joe simply answered:

"Maybe your local mages guild doesn't want to do it? It's kind of an investment in the future, but some groups don't want to put the effort into it." Joe said, gesturing to the Fish Pond.

And it was an impressive display. The main part of it was reusable and had seen action in countless fairs. It was 12 feet high, all glowy and sparkling. Water circulated through the display, driving the floating 'fish' - large blue orbs, large pink orbs, and smaller grey orbs - in a continuous loop. Magic kept the water flowing and pushing the orbs, going through a tube at one end of the display, up high on the display, to flow back into the other end. Most of the orbs were in the main channel where the water pushed them around, but some drifted to the sides of the tank. It was eye catching, but most of the kids were focused on their fishing poles, which carried lumps enchanted to stick to the 'fish' orbs.

"Investment in the future?" Heidi Jones asked.

"Yeah, it keeps kids interested in magic." Joe nodded, keeping an eye on the kids. Then he turned to scold one. "Hey you, you already got yours. If you want another one then back of the line."

"Well of course magic fascinated kids." Heidi Jones noted. "That's about all it's good for."

Then Joe was swinging a staff - specially enchanted it snared the prize he was after, pulling it away from a kid.

"That's a pink one." Joe told the boy. "You can't a take a pink one; they're for girls."

"But I caught it!"

Joe tossed the pink prize into the middle of the stream, saying: "So catch a blue one or a grey one."

Turning back the tourists, Joe continued. "And that's one of the main rules. Blue prizes are for boys, pink ones are for girls, and greys are for either."

"Why's that?" Heidi asked.

Then her attention was caught by a squealing girl. The girl was wearing a sparkly dress and jumping up and down saying "I'm a princess! I'm a magic princess!".

"You're supposed to open them outside the tent." Joe scolded. "Don't forget to take the orb with you." Turning back to Heidi, Joe said: "Sorry about that, but there's a container for the used orbs outside the tent and we don't like to litter. And that's why there are blues and pinks. There are some tomboys who wouldn't mind a boy's prize, but any boy who gets a girl's prize is usually teased to tears."

"So is the dress real?" Mindy asked, her eyes aglow.

"No, it's just an illusion." Joe answered. "It will last for maybe an hour, then it's gone. And that's one of the better prizes."

"So where do all these prizes come from and what's the odds on a good prize?" Heidi asked.

"Well a lot of the minor stuff comes from the high schools." Joe explained. "You can get a bonus point for your lab mark in magic for making 10 of those, and you can get up to 5 bonus points that way so that's where most of the minor stuff comes from. And then there's the stuff that comes from the college, where the they have the same deal for the most of blue and pink prizes, only the major pinks and blues and all the grey ones are worth a bonus mark each. Local mages, mostly the high school magic teachers and college professors, handle the rest of them."

"And the breakdown?" Heidi asked. "What's..."

Her question was interrupted by a series of rude noises.

"You're supposed to open them outdoors." Joe called over to a boy whose blue orb was making the noises. "Well, you've got those joke ones, pranks on whoever gets them, and then you have the minor stuff. Most of them are illusions or face painting or stuff like that, but most aren't full body ones like that princess dress. That was probably done by a college kid."

"Why have joke ones at all?" Heidi asked.

"To show people that magic isn't free, even when it is. I mean the prizes are free, but magic isn't free because you have to work for it." Joe explained.

"I see. And the grey ones?"

"They're smaller so they're harder to hook, but they're all special ones. Minor charm, tiny enchantments, that sort of thing. They're done by the college kids showing off or the professors and they need real skill to make. Of course because there's more power in them there's a worse gag gift for a grey ones."

"What's that? Do they make you look like a zombie or something?"

"No, things like that are the top prizes for boys." Joe laughed. "But only in the morning and afternoon because it might not be safe to look undead after dark. No, the booby prize for the grey ones is a spanking."

Mindy giggled, but Heidi was stunned.

"A spanking? What, do they have to report to a mage and get spanked or something?"

"No, there's a spanking stored in the orb." Joe told her.

"A spanking?" Heidi asked, trying to get her head around the concept. "Why would anyone put that in a prize?"

"Because it's a booby prize designed to remind people that magic isn't ever free, even when it is." Joe reminded her.

"A spanking?" Heidi said again. "No, there's no way I'll let my daughter play in a game like that."

"Aw mom! That looks fun! Why can't I play?" Mindy complained.

"Because you're not risking a spanking, even a magic one." Heidi told her daughter.

"But Peggy got one from a magic wand at that party." Mindy protested.

"That wasn't a magic wand, it was a switch, and that wasn't a proper mage, just her uncle who knows a few tricks and lost his temper, and you're not playing that game even if it is free." Heidi stated firmly.

"You aren't the only one who feels that way, I'll tell you what I tell them: just avoid the grey ones." Joe advised. "The pink ones can be fun enough and it's only the grey ones that can have a spanking in them."

"Please mom? Can't I get one of the pink ones?" Mindy begged.

"Well..."

"Please mom? Please?"

"We'll see."

As the two of them walked away, Joe wondered why anyone would avoid the grey ones. They were the ones with the charms and enchanted that lasted.

'Sure there's a risk, but no one got anywhere in magic without taking a risk.' Joe thought to himself.

Then there was a commotion outside the tent and one of the three high school students handing out the fishing pools stuck her head in and called: "Better put another grey B in, and I think we've had three As, 5 Cs, and 8 Es."

Joe nodded back to her (he didn't know her name but thought she was a freshmen), and looked to Margaretta Kellner, the other high senior working the booth. Seeing that she was occupied with young fishers he went to the cupboard on his side of the display. He opened a notebook and put three tallymarks next to the As, then tossed in three orbs from the bag of A prizes. Those were the big ones. Then he made five tallymarks next to the Cs (which were the charms) and tossed in five from that bag, and eight next to the Es (which were enchantments) and replaced them. Then reached to the B bag. That was the smallest bag of grey orbs he had, and the others were only replaced when one of the booby prizes was drawn.

Joe took one orb from the booby prize bag and paused. Margaretta Kellner was still busy dealing with the kids, and with her attention directed away he took a second prize from that bag. One he tossed into the water while the other went into his jacket pocket. Then he made a pair of tallymarks next to the B. That done, he emptied a bag of blues and pinks into the water to finish the restock.

'It's not really stealing.' Joe told him. 'It's being given out for free. Okay, so it's being given out to kids, but it's still being given out free.'

Joe thought about that, and tried to convince himself that it was true. That, and wonder who had gotten the orb he'd made. It was cool one, an illusion of vampire pirate that would last a couple of hours. It had been in the first batch of prize put into the water - just on the off chance that if it lasted until nightfall someone might think that it was a real vampire. He hoped whoever had gotten it enjoyed wearing the illusion as much as he had enjoyed making it.

Since Joe was taking a couple of college level courses he had been given the option of making 50 minor prizes for the five bonus marks or making one major one for all five. If he'd been an actual college student then he would have to make five major to get all five marks, but less was expected from those still in high school. His teachers had thought he had made his choice either to expand his powers or to impress them, but Joe had done it for a chance to borrow the manual.


It was called "The Big Book of Party and Carnival Spells, 23rd and half edition", but everyone called it 'the manual'. It was a collection put together by some of the professors at the college and included all the spells they used when they were putting together things like the Fish Pond.

All of them.

In theory Joe was just supposed to copy the illusion spell from it, but he had made carefully typed notes detailing a second spell. A much more important spell. One he had wanted to know since forever.

As he tried to convince himself that he wasn't really stealing, Joe's mind drifted back over the last month. After getting all the components together and rehearsing as much as he could, last weekend he had put his plans into action.


***


It had been a lovely weekend - one that Joe was sure he would never forget. Patricia Barsky, his girlfriend, had been patient with him while he worked on preparing the spell. Of course she thought he was doing it as part of his plan to get into college and get real magical powers. That was their plan - both of them were going for magical powers, but Joe was putting more of an effort into things with the understanding that he would help her if he achieved power. Of course but Joe knew that with some couples long term high school plans often fell apart over a handful of missed dates,. Not so with Patricia. Even after those weeks of neglect she was up for her role in the plan. Of course it cost him; his pocket money that he hadn't spent on the components had gone to Doyin Rosen whose cousin made homemade wine and peddled it to high school students for a huge profit. Joe wasn't much of a drinker, but Patricia had said that she wasn't going to do this sober.

"Why do we have to walk so far in?" Patricia asked as she made her way down the bush crowded path.

"It's only another five minutes or so." Joe assured her. "We need a place of power for this, and all the closer ones will have people there and you said you wanted privacy."

"I do." Patricia said with a half laugh. "There's no way I want anyone to see this. It's bad enough that I'm doing this, and if someone from school saw it, no, that's so not an option."

Joe nodded, not wanting to tell her that he didn't want witnesses either. Witnesses that might mention what they saw to one of his teachers, and those teachers might realise that today's plan had nothing to do with the coming fair.

"So will all of them be made in places of power?" Patricia asked.

"Probably not." Joe conceded. "If I had more power then I wouldn't need to come out here either."

"Don't worry." Patricia assured him. "I'm sure you'll be powerful someday."

"Thanks." Joe said, wishing that he could tell her what they were really doing. If he could her that then they wouldn't have to doing this. Maybe that, or maybe Patricia wouldn't be his girlfriend any more, and that was too big of a risk to take.

"So are we opening the wine before we start?" Patricia asked.

"Probably." Joe answered. "You said you wouldn't do it sober, didn't you?"

"So are you going to drink too? Because maybe you have to be sober for the spell?"

"Maybe just a bit then, but that's so you won't be drinking alone." Joe agreed.


The place of power wasn't that large, or that useful, which was one of the reasons it was so isolated. If it had possessed more power then there would a road leading out to it and facilities and such. As it was the only thing out there was what they were bringing with them. Joe's backpack was heavier than Patricia's, but they both had to carry supplies if this was going to work.

The first thing that Joe unpacked was the folding campstool. The second thing was one of the wine bottles and the corkscrew while Patricia dug some glasses out of her pack. The bottle was opened, wine was splashed into glasses, and Joe sipped as Patricia gulped hers down and held her glass out for a refill.

While Patricia was working her second glass, Joe unloaded the packs. She was on her third glass (and feeling it) by the time Joe had everything set up. He designs drawn on the grass with coloured chalk dust, with the objects in the right positions. Turning to Patricia, he asked:

"Are you ready?"

"Of course not." Patricia snickered. "But I said I would do this so let's do this before I change my mind."

Joe looked over the notes one last time. Nothing could be permitted to go wrong today, which was why he had typed them up. No, this wasn't the time to puzzle over his own handwriting. Then he sat. Patricia, giggling nervously, bent over his lap. Joe spoke the Words, then brought his hand down hard on her left neither cheek.

"Have you started?" Patricia asked.

Joe brought his palm down again. And again.

"This is so freaky." Patricia giggled. "I can almost kind of feel you doing it, but I don't really feel anything."

"That's because you aren't getting the spanking." Joe explained, holding the spell in his mind. "The spanking is going into orb, not your cute little bum."

"This so ... I can't explain it." Patricia giggled. "Can I have some more wine?"

"You can't drink it bent over like that." Joe pointed out.

"Oh, well um, then I'll just stay here." Patricia said, then broke out giggling again.

Joe did as thorough a job as he could (it was hard to know when to stop since he wasn't getting any feedback from her), then called a halt to things.

"More wine." Patricia giggled as she got off his lap. "And I need to, um, where are the wipes?"

"Over by the packs."

A glass of wine in her hands, Patricia stumbled into the bushes. While she was gone, Joe set up things for the next orb.

"Almost ready?" Joe asked, taking his seat.

Patricia stubbed out of the bushes and flopped back over his lap. Once more Joe spanked as she giggled.

And so it continued. After filling up the first set of orbs, Joe stopped for a break. As he rubbed an elixir into his sore arm, Patricia opened the second bottle of wine. The elixir, which was banned by all amateur and most professional sports groups, reinvigorated the muscles in his arm - relaxing them and filling them once more with oxygen. It would make a huge difference now, but Joe was sure that he would pay for this tomorrow.

"Are you ready for the second bit?" Joe asked.

"Be honest." Patricia giggled. "This second bit is just an excuse to see me in my panties."

"It's so the second set has a different feel to it." Joe protested, then he smiled. "And that too. That's why I didn't ask any of the guys in my study group to help with this. Their butts aren't cute like yours."

Normally Joe was a terrible liar, but Patricia was too drunk to notice. She hummed a little tune as she carefully slid down her jeans and waddled over to where Joe waited for her. Of course Joe couldn't have asked anyone in his study group - they would know that the orbs had nothing to do with the Fish Pond.

Joe said the Word and started to spank again, and the only difference this time was feeling lace under his hand instead of denim. They stopped for more wine breaks with the second set, with Patricia drinking less as she tried to maintain her current level of buzz. Joe joined in for a few mouthfuls, but now wasn't the time to drink.

Patricia stumbled back from the bushes again as Joe set thing up for the final capture.

"Ready for the last set?" Joe asked, hoping that the answer was yes.

"I guess." Patricia replied. "You know, we really should be doing this the other way around. I used to babysit, you know?"

Joe's heart almost stopped. If she was seriously suggesting that...

"But then you couldn't do the spell to trap it, and then it wouldn't go to the orb." Patricia continued. "And if that didn't happen then we'd just be out here wasting our time. So yeah, I guess I'm ready."

Joe's heart rate returned to normal and he walked towards the campstool.

Patricia slid her jeans down and waddled back over his lap. Then she lifted her lips, saying:

"Tug them down before I change my mind."

Joe swallowed hard and tugged her panties down. Patricia giggled nervously, and Joe started to spank again. This wasn't anywhere near the first time he had touched her bum, but he had never touched it this way before. He wasn't clutching, grabbing, caressing, rubbing, or anything like that, only patting it slightly. Well, spanking as hard as he could, but it was coming through to both of them as pats.

Joe was only able to finish two orbs in the third set. It wasn't just his flagging arm but how drained he was from doing magic. Part of him wished that they had started doing it this way, but he knew that he could have never convinced Patricia to take a bare bum spanking without working up to it.

Then, as Joe was near the point of collapse, he told her it was over and Patricia slid off his lap, her panties still at half-mast.

"So now that the hard part is over, let's start the fun." Patricia slurred. "Where's the wine?"

Joe put away the remains of the magic, carefully packing up the grey orbs that he had charged and erasing the chalk dust lines. The casting had taken hours and he knew that his arm and shoulder would pain him the next day, but it was worth it. Using the fair as an excuse he had captured real spankings, including two on the bare bum.

Once everything was packed away, he joined Patricia and opened the fourth and last bottle of wine.

"How's that hand of yours? Is it still in shape to take care of things or are Rosy Palm and her five sisters taking the day off?" Patricia joked.

"It's sore and stiffening up." Joe admitted.

"Stiffening up? I was asking about your arm." Patricia giggled.

Sex was a powerful thing, too powerful to waste on mere pleasure. If things were iffy when you went for the higher levels of magic then the power from sex, especially from having sex the first time, might be enough to put you over the top. Everyone knew it, which was why the magic club had the lowest rate of teen pregnancy of all the school's extra curriculum activities (even girls' soccer). But sex, as defined by the laws of magic, was a very specific thing. A president could say "I never had sex with that girl" and be honest as long as he was referring to the magical definition and still have half the nation think he was lying.

With that in mind, Patricia took her blouse off, shed her bra and moved Joe's tired hand to her nipples. His fresher hand she moved somewhere lower, then reached over to help him ease his stiffness as they kissed and 'didn't have sex' with each other.


Almost an hour later, with the wine starting to wear off, they gathered up their packs and started on the way back to civilisation.

"So, what are you doing next weekend?" Patricia asked.

"Working the Fish Pond." Joe answered. "Remember? I told you about that almost a month ago."

"You wear yourself out making those orbs and then you have to work the booth?" Patricia asked rhetorically. "You're going to be a shoe in for that scholarship and then making it all the way."

"Thanks." Joe replied, wishing that it was true. If he had done all of that, then, well, then the orbs would have had to go to Fish Pond.

"As long as they take asskissing into account." Patricia added.

"Hey, that's not fair." Joe protested. "The only ass I kiss is yours."

"Don't I know it." Patricia giggled. "So we can't do the weekend, then how about Wednesday night? Or is your study group meeting then?"

"No, everyone else is working on their bits for the fair." Joe told her with a smile. "Everyone wants those bonus marks and most of them can't finish things this weekend."

"So Wednesday?" Patricia smiled.

"Wednesday it is." Joe smiled back. "My folks will think I'm with the study group..."

"And my parents will think I'm at my friend's Helen's house." Patricia cooed. "She'll cover for us, she owes me."

"So where will we be?" Joe asked.

While Joe had sweated over every detail for detail of today he was now reminded that some plans were fun to make.


That Sunday, Joe had his house to himself. Everyone else was out and he knew they would be gone for at least an hour. Secure in his room with the door locked, Joe drew out one of the orbs he had made. It was from the first set and would make as good of a test as any of them.

Bending over his bed, Joe released the magic from the orb, then gasped as pain exploded in his right butt cheek. His legs began to kick and her body twisted as the stored spanks rained down on his backside.

When it was over he could only lay there sniffling. Finally, after all this time, a real spanking. Sure, in a way it was just another form of self spanking, but it was much realer than anything he had ever done before.

Much, much realer.

Sliding off his jeans and underwear, Joe checked out his backside in the bedroom mirror. Its colour was amazing. While there was no bruising it had clearly been spanked. The shade was far deeper and much more even than anything he had ever produced before. Part of him wanted to try it again with his pants down, but Joe knew that what he wore wouldn't affect the feel. He could be naked as a jaybird but if he used an orb from the first set it would feel like getting a spanking over Patricia's jeans. He could be fully dressed and wearing padding on his backside, but if he used one of the two from the last set he would still get the feeling of a bare bum spanking.

Some kids avoided going for the grey stones because of the risk of their booby prize, but for as long as he could remember Joe had fished for those at every fair. Everyone thought he was going after the powerful magic orbs, but it was the booby prizes that he was really after. Not that he got them often, they were always the least numerous of the grey orbs, but hanging around the Fish Pond he was able to see when someone else triggered a booby prize and that was almost as good as getting one himself. Then he turned 12 and had to stop. It wasn't until a few years after that Joe realised why he had gone for the grey stones, and of course they were now out of reach.

Joe wasn't sure if normal grey orbs were strong as the ones he had made - he'd put as much zip as he could in them - but using one of the prize orbs would mean stepping away from self spanking. It would be a spanking, pure and simple. The feeling of someone else's hand crashing down. Just thinking about that brought a new tension to his body, one that he quickly relieved.


***


Thinking about last Sunday brought Joe back to the present. About the grey orb burning a hole in his jacket pocket and how he couldn't convince himself that he wasn't stealing it.

When the commotion started again, Joe knew what he had to do. The first orb he threw into the Fish Pond came from his jacket pocket, then he restocked the others from the bags.

In the back of his mind he wondered if that tourist had let her daughter into the Fish Pond booth, and if she had whether the girl had agreed to stay away from the grey orbs. It might have happened while he was lost in thought and he could only hope that the latest commotion wasn't from that tourist's kid, or any tourist's kid. That sort of thing brought unwelcome attention, and if someone claimed that the high school senior on duty had explained things wrong then it would have been a black mark for Joe's record. With so many people chasing so few spots any black spot one his record could derail his chances of achieving the higher mysteries.


The day continued on, with Joe feeling tinges of envy every time he heard a kid reacting to one of the booby prizes.

Every hour at five past the hour someone from the mages guild came by and checked out the prize levels. Depending on what the tally books showed someone else would be around to refill the prize bags. Most time the pinks and blues needed to be refilled, as the greys rarely needed to be topped up. Most of the kids didn't have the skill to hook a grey, but everyone could get a pink or blue and some of the better pinks and blues were practically as good as the greys.

Joe spent the day watching illusionary costumes appear and face paint being mystically applied, as well as watching various joke prizes going off. He even ate a couple of meals while working at the booth.


That evening, as the fair was being shut down, one of the organisers came by to help wrap things up.

Professor Emily Swain was everything that Joe wanted to be. Well, not everything - he didn't dream of being either a woman or a college professor, but she was an adept of the higher mysteries.

"Great job." Professor Swain told them as she came in. "I'm sorry that we didn't get a chance to spell you, but with this new policy of not letting anyone work two booths we're stretched to the limit."

"Oh, it was no problem." Margaretta Kellner lied.

"Of course it was." Professor Swain said with a laugh. "We used to have three shifts of three seniors working here, but that was when students could work three or four fairs. Now, well, we have to overwork the volunteers because they can only work one shift a season. Now if you don't mind, I'll take one last look at your tally books."

Professor Swain waved her right hand, and the tally books flew to her. The pages flipped and the outlines of figures appeared over the books. Other streams of mystic energy entered the Fish Pond or caressed the bags of prizes.

"It looks like things balance out." Professor Swain concluded. "Not exactly, but the people out front never get the figures right. They're always calling the big pink and blues As and getting the Es and Cs mixed up, but they never miss the count on booby prizes."

"You people double check all of that?" Joe asked, suddenly glad that he had put that stolen prize into the Fish Pond.

"It's unfortunate that we have to." Professor Swain sighed. "Three years ago, well, we had a student who was overjoyed to work the Fish Pond. He put in all sorts of hours, and the kids seemed to do better when he working the pond. We handed out far more greys when he was working, but the same number of pinks and blues. And the same number of Bs, which seemed weird to some people. So we looked into it and it turned out that he was selling the prizes for five or ten bucks each. I don't know what was worse, the fact that he was stealing prizes or that he was selling them for next to nothing. Anyone who values magic should know the value of the grey orbs, and he was practically giving them away." Professor Swain said, bitterness and anger rising in her voice as she spoke. "It would have been better to do that, to give them away, then to charge so little for them. In any case, any hope he had of getting anywhere in magic went up in flames and we had to change the system. Fix it so it wouldn't tempt the students, but now we need to fix things again so we don't burnout the volunteers. So, let's see what we have left."

Another wave of her hand, and the prizes were floating out of the Fish Pond. Dripping wet, they flew towards mostly empty bags at either end of the display.

"Now since you both worked the entire day you're entitled to a little reward." Professor Swain told them, and another shifted out an empty bag from each end of the display. "You can each fill a bag with prizes. You'll probably want all the greys, but use the wet pink and blues to fill up the bag."

"We can just take them?" Margaretta Kellner asked, wondering if this was some sort of trap. "But didn't you just get through telling us about that thief?"

"Yes, but he took them without permission." Professor Swain explained. "Besides, there's always the chance that one of the greys was bumped around too much. They should all work, now, but maybe not after another couple of days floating in the tank. This way we don't take the chance of disappointing a child with a half working grey. Oh, and when I said to take the greys, I meant all of them, even the Bs. We really don't want to see one of them damaged before it goes off. Anyway, I've got to shut down the mystic displays at the funhouse; I'll be back to haul away the leftovers in maybe twenty minutes."

Joe wondered if shutting down the funhouse would really take that long. Oh, some of the mystic parts were complicated (like the mirror that showed the viewer in old fashion underwear - boxer shorts for the boys and old fashioned bra, panties, and girdles for the girls), but Professor Swan, well, she had the power, didn't she? Maybe it would only take a few minutes to shutdown the funhouse and she'd spend the rest of the time watching them divvy up the left over prizes.

After checking the pile of prizes on her side of the display, Margaretta Kellner glanced over at a Joe, her brow wrinkled in thought.

"Mind if I take a lot of the pinks?" Margaretta Kellner asked. "Only I've got a little sister who's going be overjoyed..."

"Take them." Joe said, agreeing before she could finish. "But fill up on the greys first. You heard what Prof Swan said about knowing the value of magic."

"Yeah, about those greys. It's just, well, my little sister is always in my room getting into my stuff and trying on my clothes, so I'd kind of like to take a couple of the Bs to act as booby traps, but if I take home too many of them then my mom will kill me. So, um, how would you feel about me trading most of my Bs for some of your Es or Cs?"

"Sure, at two for one." Joe blurted out, his mouth acting before his brain. To him each B was worth at least a pair of Es or Cs, but once the words were out he wanted to take them back. To keep Margaretta (who knew Patricia and might talk to her sometime) from learning how much he wanted those Bs.

"That sounds fair." Margaretta Kellner nodded, then reached into the bag of booby prizes. "Here's two for an C, and another two for an E, and... Hey, is there some kid you want to trick into using up the Bs?"

"Um, no." Joe admitted, his mind racing as he tried to think of an answer for the question he knew was coming.

"So why do you want two Bs for a good grey one?" Margaretta Kellner asked.

"Because Prof Swan said something about knowing the value of magic, so since more people want the Cs and Es more than the Bs those have to be worth more, don't they? I'm not sure what I'll do with the orbs, maybe share them with some cousins, so I don't mind getting stuck with the crud. But if I don't seem to know the value of magic and Prof Swan or someone else finds out then that could be a black mark, and if I get a black mark..." Joe allowed his voice to trail off.

"Then no higher mysteries." Margaretta Kellner nodded, laying out most of her Bs in groups of two. "You need a clean record to get there."

"Exactly." Joe nodded. "But you've got someone in mind for the orbs and I don't so I don't mind swapping, but I've got to respect the value of magic."

"That makes sense." Margaretta Kellner agreed. "And between us we've got to make sure we take all the greys."

In the end she kept only three of her booby prizes, trading the rest to Joe for prizes that would make her little sister squeal with joy while filling up the rest of her bag with pink prizes. Joe put the Bs at the bottom of his bag, added a layer of blues, then layered the other sorts of greys, taking care to keep them separate. He finished by topping the bag off with an equal mix of blues and pinks. They had barely finished swapping greys and filling their bags when Professor Swain reappeared.

"Finished packing up your loot?" Professor Swain asked. "Then I'll move the rest of the prizes to the van. And good luck, the pair of you, with getting into the magics program next year. I'll make a note that you helped out today, and that should help you a bit. At least as long as you keep your grades up."

"Thanks Professor Swain." Margaretta Kellner said with a wide grin, and Joe quickly echoed her.

"As for the third person who was supposed to help, well I'll make a note about him too." Professor Swain said. "Only it will be for his lack of dependability. Not volunteering to work, that's one thing, but volunteering and not doing the work is another. Well, no matter, that just meant more prizes for you."

Joe and Margaretta Kellner exchanged glances. If they had heard the woman correctly then one of their classmates had just been given a black mark. With so many people chasing so few chances at gaining the higher mysteries any negative thing on your record could destroy your chances, no matter how many positives things you had. They were both torn between sympathy for the missing volunteer and elation over the field getting just a little bit less crowded.


When he got home, Joe carefully sorted out the prizes, placing the Bs aside. Each type of grey went into a different bag, but the bulk of the Bs went in a separate bag that he stashed in his closet next to his home made orbs. He yearned to test one of the Bs, to see if it felt the way he remembered it feeling, but couldn't, not without making sure the house was empty and it wasn't empty. So he waited, bidding his time so he could do things right.

The next day, Sunday, he once again had the house to himself for over an hour. Once everyone else was gone and he was sure that they weren't coming back, Joe locked himself in his room once more. This time he rearranged his pillows so he could bend over them, almost like he was bending over the lap of someone sitting on his bed. Stripping off most of his clothes he took his position over the pillows and activated one of the grey orbs from the fairgrounds.

As a hand exploded onto his left cheek, Joe gasped. He could feel the hand against his cheek, which meant that a bare bottom spanking had been captured. Before he could do more than acknowledge that fact he felt another smack - one that fell on his right cheek - then another that covered both cheeks.

Joe had tried to make his orbs realistic ones, but who ever had stored this spanking really knew how to spank. The spanks fell in a near random pattern; he never knew where the next one would land, but they were spread out so that no one part of his bum was ever spanked out. When the first spank landed on his left thigh Joe found himself kicking and twisting, then he was hitting the floor. Of course since he hadn't needed to form a lap out of those pillows the fact that he was off them didn't mean that the spanking stopped.

Before it was over, Joe was lying face down on his bedroom floor, kicking and crying. He almost didn't notice the end of the spanking, but slowly he realised that this wasn't just another pause.

Checking himself in his bedroom mirror, Joe was amazed by how his bum looked. And the back of his thighs! He decided that it was a good thing that he hadn't planned on wearing shorts that day. Wearing shorts or sitting much; Joe took the chair from his study desk and sat, wincing as his sore bum made contact with the hard wooden surface, then pictured himself sitting down for a meal or sitting in school after his English teacher (Miss Bakersfield, who was only five years out of college) had spanked him in front of the entire class and...

And suddenly he had an urgent problem to take care of.


Afterwards, when he was back in his snuggest jeans and waiting for his family to return, Joe carefully counted the greys again.

"So if I avoid the days before gym, and before I have a date with Patricia, and if..." Joe muttered to himself, planning out when he would use them. Of course with summer coming gym class would soon be over, but then there was swimming to think about, and he could only use the orbs when he knew he had the house to himself.

Counting the dates, Joe was sure that if he rationed them carefully that he would have enough orbs to last to fall, and maybe longer. But at least to fall, when (hopefully) as a first year magic student he would have an excuse to make more orbs. Of course that would require some planning - he would have to convince Patricia that he couldn't use the normal faculties at the college and...

And there could be a place at the college where he could make them. Where he could capture spankings. Where others captured spankings. Suddenly his mind was racing, wondering if he would ever met the person who had prepared the orb that he had just used.

Or had he met her? From the way the spanks had fallen it had seemed like the spanker was left handed, and Professor Swan was left handed, and so maybe that was what it would feel like to be over that woman's lap and ...

And suddenly, far sooner than he thought possible, Joe was ready to... Checking the time, he saw that he had just enough time to do it while the house was still empty so he hurried off to do it.

Goodgulf

[john_s_mcleod]

cool story, Goodgulf - a lot like the (very few) magic-type stories/ books/ "epics" I've read, with their plethora of characters. Is there more to this one? I think we'd enjoy it.


J

[goodgulf]

I am working on a part 2, but I might need to split it to a part 2 and part 3. Currently part two is 32,000 words and we haven't gotten to the end of John's third year of college. I'm thinking about posting it at the end of his third year and doing his fourth year + in another part.

But right now I'm working a Christmas story. Last year's Christmas story in fact. It introduces a setting and then runs during a Christmas vacation (Dec 19 to Jan 3) of a freshman college student named Clare as she visits a place where spankings can happen at the drop of a hat. It's mostly F/f, and I hope to find the time to work on New Year Eve's on Friday. As it stands it's 48,000 words and I've just finished up to Dec 30th.

Goodgulf