With Stella here in your hands, youâre filled with desires, and you canât help but wonder once again if future-past-you put them there through more than temptationâŚor if your library has that cute librarian delivering you ideas.
(If so, youâll have to thank her later! Er, if she werenât simply a construct you made up to explain how your powers deliver you knowledge, you mean.)
One hand leaves Stellaâs cheek, and reaches for her hand, sliding along her fair skinâŚsqueezing it, then interlacing fingersâŚfeeling her squeeze backâŚ
Holding hands is a sacred act, some say, to a lesbian. That thereâs so much love, expressed in that single moment, to entrust oneâs hand to another. In the days of the Heisei era, when such affection was taboo to speak of openly, it was used as a symbolic act in anime, to represent a love that dare not speak its name. The Fourth Order even believes that through connecting oneâs hand to another, girls who believe in the Goddess shall one day be granted magnificent powers.
(And wouldnât it be nice, to grant Stella a power of her very own?)
With your other hand, you stroke Stellaâs head â youâve always wanted to do that! â and she gives you this big, wide, dopey smileâŚ
and you close the gap.
Itâd be hard without enhanced Dexterity, but youâre flexible enough, nimble enough, to gently climb over the table (without knocking anything over!) and settle your knees to either side of Stellaâs legs, looking down upon her, and â
suddenly very, very much aware that like your mother before you, youâre justâŚdoing this on school property! Aw, and all the time you spent so scandalized that Mama would do thatâŚ
(Well, you wouldnât be the only one. Nazakawa-kun has told more than a few stories about it, and yet the cameras are never watched! Lucky you, huh?)
With this knowledge, youâre trembling just a little, but you donât think Stella can notice. S-sheâs had sex with lots of girls, right? M-maybe she expected this, too! Suddenly youâre so nervous againâŚhypnotising is no problem for you, but god forbid you screw up kissing orâŚ
âŚ
Your body is so close to hers, the airconditioned room easily overwhelmed by the heat of your bodies. Part of you wonders if, if youâre going to take this role, you should let your hair down â but youâve grown quite fond of the pigtails, and knowing Stella used to make fun of them all the time makes you want to keep them for this.
I-itâs such a good feeling, thoughâŚhaving Stella in your grasp.
Youâve been this close to Korri, of course. Near her warmth. But itâs altogether different when not only is it a hypnotised girl, itâs a hypnotised girl whoâs fallen for you.
You kiss Stella on the forehead and pet her head some more, and you hear her gentle noises escape her throat, almost purrs, from being treated so gently and lovingly. From what you can tell from the tingling of her blunted spines, sheâs generally had to take the lead sexuallyâŚand sheâs rather tired of it. Sheâs a confident person, who wants to help others, but more than anything she wants to have someone who can take her.
Your flexibility lets you whisper in your ear, even like this. You may aspire to be a heroine, but thereâs something so delicious about the way sheâs here, like a captive before her, as if youâre playing the role of a villainess as wellâŚ
The best of both worlds.
âMy Stella MarisâŚhow do you feel?â you ask.
âmn,â Stella says, as you stroke her hair, taking a moment to even realize youâre speaking to her. ââŚwonderfulâŚâ
You didnât need to ask her how she feels. You can read her mind, after all. But hearing her hypnotised, drooling lips speak for youâŚjust for youâŚ
you canât possibly pass that up.
âYou like my touch,â you say, shifting into that commanding tone. To emphasize, you hold the back of her head in your handsâŚand press your chest against her. Your breasts are pretty average â not too big, not too small, but just the right shape for your wonderful body â but theyâre so soft, and Stella trembles once more within your grasp,
âyesâ she breathes, after a moment to process your growing strength and beauty. (Or are they, perhaps, one and the sameâŚ?)
âYou like it, Stella.â Your brain tingles when you whisper, and know just how easily your words sink into her. How good it feels to brainwash girlsâŚâYou like it when I touch you. You like being close to me.â Itâs a command as much as a statement, and with her thinking you have a geas that could push it onto herâŚsheâs always going to ask if itâs doing so, think these hypnotised requests are another geas.
Itâs funny how easy it is to twist Stella around your fingers, after all these years of being unable to even get her to like you.
âMy touch is powerful, Stella. My touch is hypnotic. Just being touched makes you feel good, like you do right now. Just being touched makes you melt.â
Stella nodsâŚshe doesnât need much convincing. You think your enhanced Dexterity might be helping, getting you close to her sensitive spots, and yet, you know, that even without the skill made for it, you could bring her down with touch aloneâŚ
You trail your fingers on the skin she bares upon her neck, thinking you should probably get her to wear more airy clothing. Not necessarily more revealing â although that does help! â but more comfortable in Southern Sunâs humid air, to reduce one source of stress for her. Each touch of your fingers, nails trimmed and filed, makes her arousal tingle a little through your telepathy, and itâs so nice to know exactly what she responds toâŚand maybe, to her, and to you, hypnosis is better than sexâŚ?
(Maybe youâll have to find out after youâre done. Just for a point of comparisonâŚ)
Your librarian helps you figure out how to accomplish your desires. BecauseâŚyou donât wanna change Stella that much. Not much more than you already have, anyway â you fell in love with the Stella before you, and fell in love with the Stella you knew before, and fell in love with the Stella whose mind was so beautiful to you. Now that youâve helped her get out of where sheâs been stuck for so long, helped ease her burden, you donât need to do too much more to make her happier, make her the best Stella she could be.
But at the same timeâŚ
You want the control. You want Stella under your control. Under your thumb. The urge burns within you, to have her completely in your thrall, willing to help you with anything you ask, willing to help you do whatever it takes to save Southern SunâŚor even grasp other girls for yourself, should the chance come to you. Stellaâs talents in the realm of love and passion can so easily be turned to your purpose.
And as it turns out?
Yes, you can have both.
âStella Maris,â you command, feeling her mind instantly focus all its attention on you. âCan you feel your attraction to me? Your submission? Your love? All of those feelings youâve developed for me that have been reversed from your hatred by my power, can you feel them?â
âyes,â Stella breathes, concentrating on them all, burning within her, like the light of the sun, so grossly incandescent.
âI want you to hold them in your hands. Like pieces of clay.â You can feel her obeying. âI want you to imagine each of them, as a bit of clay. All of your positive feelings toward me. All of your love for me. All of them in your own two hands. Can you feel it?â
Stella nods. You feel her mind working toward what you say. Such a lovely hypnotic subject she is, able to pull those feelings out so clearlyâŚwith so much more ease than you ever could have done before, thanks to your new skills. No ordinary hypnotist could so easily accomplish what you have planned.
But youâre no ordinary hypnotist. Youâre brilliant.
Brilliant Cibele, tamer of cuties.
âI want you to take this clay. All of these bits of clay, and I want you to mold them into a person. A person made up of all your love and lust and worship and fealty to me.â You grin, Stella forming it within her, so deeply entranced that she can perform such an act with such commanding instruction as your words. Your perfect hypnotic words, youâre amazing, how could you have resisted this? âYou know that myth, yes? Common throughout so many cultures, including the faith of my ancestors. Weâre going to create a new person from the clay, inside your mind.â
Stella nods, so slowly, so heavily, and you can feel her mind shifting. Through your telepathic power, you can see the way she molds her feelings into a little miniature servant entirely devoted to Cibele, an Eve of submission to the mother goddess.
âI want you to make her real. As real as you are. Every detail like you, all of it a part of you, another person just like you.â Guiding her with your words, your touch. Pushing her into this. Into becoming the architect of her own demise.
She goes silent. Her mind understands such theories of identity, as youâd expect of an aspiring therapist, and though she goes quiet, you can feel it. Within the spines, beyond them, comes that artificial sense of self. Not truly complete, in the sense some have, but it doesnât need to beâŚ
she doesnât need to be.
ââŚokayâŚâ
Just a tiny word, after only a few momentsâŚbut in Stellaâs mind, sheâs assembled it. Made herself in herself. Using her own hypnotic experience to help the process. And it of course helps that the feeling is so strong, just the reversal of years of hatred into love accomplishing so muchâŚ
The power of hypnosis.
The power of Cibele.
(Or, is it the power of Cybele�)
âI want to talk to that person. Okay? Let her use your lips.â
Stella nods, just a tiny bitâŚand blinks, and awakens. Now, she looks lucid, but you know itâs not her proper state of mind. Here, youâre talking to that part of her youâve created, that part of her that is all Stellaâs submission in one.
âMy Lady,â the second Stella says, with such clarity, a subset of her consciousness, that would so easily bow her head if she got the chance. âThank you for ridding me, ridding us, of those useless feelings of hatred and turning me into your devoted, addicted servant.â This second self shows such pride and pleasure in getting to be yoursâŚâWith your power and wit, my Lady, we never had a chance! And being yours is surely the highest part of our existenceâŚâ Her manner reminds you so much of the concept of a maid, an image that holds such weight; even your brother has written about girls becoming maids to their hypnotic mistresses.
How did it go, anyway�
âFirst, you make them love Mistress,â you whisper, thinking of those words. Stellaâs mind flashes with recognition of their source (both Stellas, that is), only natural given her fetishâŚbut the words simply make it better for her, as they can now become real. âLove Her so much they would do anything. Love Her so much they would change anything about themselves. Love Her and thus Serve Her. Serve Her in ways that Please Her. And so you make them open to the Path of the MaidâŚ~â
âOf course, my LadyâŚâ Even through the second Stella, the maid Stellaâs personality, you can feel her pulsing from those words. âYour hypnotic power will only grow, and I will do everything in my power to assist you!â
Even if the words are laid on so thickly, she truly believes them, all her filters gone. Itâs really wonderfulâŚ!
âLittle star,â you say, taking from another song Marina has covered. âYouâre going to live inside my Stella Maris. Growing with her love for me. You will be absolutely loyal and obedient to me. Open to the Path of the MaidâŚâ
âOf course, my Lady! I would have no less.â Aah, itâs just amazing, her obedience! You really could get, just, so used to itâŚyou hate to admit it, but Seul-ki really did know you better than you knew yourself.
âYouâre going to be a part of her. Another Stella, a little star that whispers in her ear and ensures her fealty to me. Who tempts her with what I could do to her, what I am to her, her fetishes and wants and needs.â
âMy LadyâŚso clever.â Stella â or her âlittle starâ â has that adoring look you love, absolutely love, itâs perfect, you want more! âBut, would you not have me be in control of this body?â
Itâs kind of tempting, butâŚto be honest, youâd need a lot more work to make that function. Even for you, itâs not so easy as to create a second self just like this. Even so, you have another good reasonâŚ
âI want my Stella to be tempted, to fall further. To be allowed to resist, only to be pushed back to her knees, again and again and againâŚâ You lick your lips a little, even, knowing how delicious this is, youâre so wetâŚâEventually you may well be indistinguishable from her, little star, but this is what I desire.â A Stella mostly intact, but constantly under your influence. Or under her own influence. âYou will whisper in her ear, little star, ensure she always takes my needs and wants to heart, ensure her love for me is powerful, overwhelming, all-encompassing. Constantly corrupt her, forevermore, into mine and mine aloneâŚâ
With The Supreme Idea, if you manage to reach that point where you can grow beyond your human limitations, youâd have a much more effective tool to accomplish thisâŚbut this will be enough. So much weaker, butâŚso very useful, so very sexy.
âAs you say, my Lady. It will be my pleasure, and her pleasure. As your little starâŚâ She smiles, placidly, proudly, obediently. Like a perfect maid should.
âWhen I tell Stella âhey little starâ, you will take control of her,â you say. âCompletely obedient.â (And isnât that word so wonderful?) âYou will remain until I tell you to return, or until I am no longer in contact with you. Stella will have no memory of this unless you choose to reveal it to her.â
âYes, my Lady,â she says, smiling even brighter at the prospect. Weirdly, she has interest in controlling herselfâŚhuh, are you repurposing Stellaâs dominant drives into furthering her own submission to you? You really do have such power over herâŚ~
âAnd Stella, you can forget about this, okay?â That makes it hotter for her, you just know, you can see Stellaâs sexy mind so open to youâŚâYour little star will be inside you, but you donât need to think about how she got there.â
âShe obeys, my Lady,â the little star says proudly. âAs she should.â
âI want to go back to Stella now, little star. Obey as you have been told, and feel pleasure for serving me.â
The maid-Stella nodsâŚand then Stellaâs face, in an instant, returns to perfect hypnotised beauty. Even drooling a little.
Such lovely twisting youâve done to her.
âŚhuh. Your telepathy can feel the little star withinâŚlike a small reflection of Stella herself, behind the spines, ready to reverse itself. Already there, already soâŚso okay with you doing whatever you please to the women of the world. That if you did so much to save Stella from herself, thereâs no reason you shouldnât do the same thing for everyone else.
And sheâll whisper, telling Stella how hot it is that you mind control others, how lovely it is, make her question everyone around her about whether youâve subsumed them within your will like you have Stella.
In a way, itâs pretty dangerous to have someone unable to tell you ânoââŚbut thatâs part of why you didnât leave her in total control. Stella isnât going to hold back if she thinks youâre wrong, right?
âStella MarisâŚâ you whisper to her, stroking back some of her blonde locks into place. âItâs okay. Itâs okay to love yourself, like I love you.â And you do, you absolutely do, and itâs so wonderful you get to finally express it. âItâs okay to be who you are. Youâre an amazing person I admire, and youâll be loved. Be confident and happy in what you are for me.â
Stella nods, and drools.
Honestly, youâd be worried she didnât hear if not for your telepathy. It does make this so much easier, doesnât it?
âMy love will encompass you, and others. Like a big hug you have inside you, all the time. Weâll help save this world, okay? And youâll help me, too!â
Stella drools more, but you can see her head nod a littleâŚ
So sexy.
Itâs wonderful.
âWe can play these kinds of games again, if you want, Stella Maris! Play games with your heart and mind, but always out of love. Because I do love you, and weâll love others, and everything will be so lovely with Cibele in control.â
So focused on your words.
Absorbing them so easily.
Shaped entirely for the sake of your love.
âYou donât need to become someone youâre not, Stella Maris. Not without me telling you, anyway.â
Less a hypnotic command and more a statement of intent, butâŚit does make her smile.
âWeâll play more games. WeâllâŚweâll love one another. AndâŚâ
You lean in, and press your lips against Stellaâs.
She canât respond like this, not this deep, butâŚsince sheâs yours, you push your tongue in, you taste of her, enjoying another amazing hypnotised kiss. You want to know all the different ways to kiss a girl, and StellaâŚwell, she can serve you by teaching you, right? Youâre not too proud to admit that in the matter of love, of kissing, of sexâŚyouâre still far from Stellaâs level.
âAnd youâll be happy,â you whisper, at last, separating her from the kiss.
âyesâŚthank you, cibele,â she finally manages to say, before you dive in to kiss her again, kiss her as much as you can stand to, impress upon her toward her very soul that you love her, and will remain by her side until hope has fully witheredâŚ
Perfect, beautiful, wonderful Stella.
Your little star.
âŚ
âŚ
For your achievement of securing the loyalty of Stella Maris, you have gained 1 Universal skill point!
In addition, Developerâs Note 2 is now available!
âWake up, Stella,â you whisper at last.
âW-whuh?â Stella says, momentarily confused. The table between the two of you is now pushed aside, and youâve sat back in your own chair, offering Stella the chance to do what she wantsâŚ
Stella looks upon you with awe in your eyes, and confusion between her ears, at the second voice within her.
Look at her. Your perfect, beautiful Goddess. Your Lady. She who has turned you into a better person, and asked only your free will as the price.
IâŚI, Iâm not â
Go on. Do what you desire.
âŚand with that, Stella makes her decision, to embrace her new nature, to swallow down her hesitation. She drops to her knees, head lowered before you, as if kneeling to the throne.
ââŚIâŚwell, I donât know a lot about kneeling, butâŚâ Stella raises her head, ever so slightly, and smiles to you. Her spines have become entirely blunted, and deep within her mind pulses a faint golden light, a measure of devotion toward her Lady. âbut Iâm here. Iâm yours. And I love you. PleaseâŚâ
Stella smiles beatifically before you, eyes full of love.
âWill you be kind to me? M-my Lady?â
Itâs altogether different, like this. What Stella has seen in her fantasies are things that, so very often, she knows she canât have. That she cannot simply sacrifice herself entirely, to the kind of mind control that doesnât even exist â and indeed, that her ambitions are entirely incompatible with doing so.
Which is to say, part of you wants to gloat, to tease, to lord it all over her,
But in this moment, thatâs not what she needs, and so you pet her on the head for being such a good girl! Aftercare is important too, right? Even your librarian tells you that!
âE-eh?â
âWhy wouldnât I?â You grin, showing your teeth, but itâs true! This moment is just the beginning â the game doesnât end now, right? âStella, I love you! Iâll always do my best to make you feel loved, you know?â You laugh, even as your hand brushes against Stellaâs cheek, and she brushes against that hand adoringly.
âAhâŚâ Stella blushes, and looks aside, as if sheâs embarrassed by this display. âJeez. You should be a little more imperious, you know? If you just pat peopleâs heads theyâre going to walk all over you.â
âŚStellaâs lying.
But you both know that, so itâs okay, right? Playing the role of the âtsundereâ to make it feel better for the both of you, and all.
âAhâŚmouuu, we got kind of sidetracked, didnât we? I didnât even tell you about my powers properly yet!â
âYeahâŚyou kinda didnât.â Stella mock-pouts. âWell, you did fill me with love and joy, so I guess Iâll forgive you.â
âEheh.â You rub the back of your headâŚah, this really is nice, to be loved. To have your heart filled with joy, just as hers is. âLet me take it from the topâŚâ
It all started when I was thinking about my crushes, on my way to a protest to meet my fencing senpai, Calvina Aeterna. She was one of the crushesâŚas was you, and Korrigan Trelawney â you might know her. People I could never express my feelings to, and people who could never accept them.
I was flighty, troubled. I didnât look where I was going.
I shouldâve died.
It wasnât a low-speed collision, no matter what that black box said; I still donât know what the chances are of no one noticing any of it. Either way, it was a sign of my own stupidity. Anyone shouldâve looked, but meâŚI was so busy wanting to be loved that I couldnât see past my own feelings.
But I woke up, seeing a truck driver terrified out of his wits and paramedics looking me over. AndâŚsomething else.
Menus. Like you see in a video game. Youâre familiar those old webtoons, right? Or maybe the countless stories with a similar premise. Someone wakes up with powers like a game, to fulfill whatever task lies before them â or even, simply for the sake of gaining power.
In my menu, were three skill treesâŚ
Hypnosis, Telepathy, and Enchantment.
Doesnât take a genius to figure that out, huh?
It wasnât until I laid in my hospital bed, in the middle of the night, that I finally fully read the attached âDeveloperâs Noteâ. From me, in the future â pretty crazy, right? How could I tell anyone about thatâŚor about the kind of powers I had?
And, more to the point, how could I save the world if future-past-me wonât tell me what I need to do? If all she cares about is me using my powers on girls?
(I say that, as if future-past-me couldnât read me like an open bookâŚmouuu.)
Um, apparently, I was laid up in a coma for a while in the original timeline! Whatever happened there, I was too late to stop it â you donât time travel unless you have no other option, right? I had powers there, too, as you might expectâŚand according to future-past-me? I wasnât willing to use them, at first. I donât really know the details; like I said, she doesnât wanna tell me much, yâknow? Maybe itâs for my own good, or some bull-plop.
Future-past-me knew you, and Calvina, and Korri, all people Iâve met beforeâŚbut apparently she knew Milia too, even if Iâd never met her before Golden Week. Obviously Seul-ki, too, and Iâm worried she might be connected to this mysterious âQueenâ future-past me mentioned.
In that note, future-past-me said something aboutâŚâyou thought you were good because you had no clawsâ. Yeah, I guess thatâs Nietzsche. I probably heard it from Seul-ki, too.
She told me the only way to increase my attributes, to be able to fight physically or such, was to buy one of my skills. So I did. Thought Skimmer â a form of mind reading, what Iâve used on you. Then things startedâŚthey started coming into place.
I raised my attributes, and got more points. More skills. More powers. I used my powers to gain some advantages I could never have otherwise. Against Milia, for one. But until then I was still mostly okay, despite the temptation, the fetish I didnât even realize I hadâŚuntil that day with you.
Earlier that day, I practiced hypnosis on Korri; Iâve had a crush on her since kindergarten. And she wasâŚshe was so beautiful. In that moment I couldnât deny it anymore and no matter what I was going to do with my powers â good, evil, whatever â I would have to deal with that desire. I would have to deal with the fact that hypnosis was beautiful, and I couldnât give it up.
With youâŚwith you, I didnât hesitate so much. It probably helped that you went first, and I figured you out a little. I didnât feel bad about it, yâknow?
Seul-kiâŚI think it was her. She pushed me into thinking of this, of this fetish, in terms of what would happen with you. She planned all of it; maybe, even without powers, this wouldâve happenedâŚ
I still remember what she said. That I wanted you at my mercy.
And she was right, wasnât she?
You know, Iâve noticed how people are looking at me differently, right? I donât know how things will go with Milia, butâŚI need to know the truth. I need to know what Seul-ki was to her, and what caused her to fall away.
So, thatâs how we got here. I gained some more powers, and used them in various ways. But youâŚyouâre the first person I crossed a line withâŚ
Iâm sorry, Stella. I hope you can forgive me.
ââŚif you hadnât done all this, Iâd have called you a liar,â Stella says, head bowed, still on her knees as she listened patiently. âProbably some joke about middle-school syndrome. But after youâve made this happen, after youâve captured my heart? I canât escape the fact that you do have abilities.â She looks up again, and shakes her head. âYou really donât know what it is you need this power for?â
âYeah. Future-past-me was pretty vague. But, I have nothing else to go on but her, and whatever I can find along the way.â You shrug, sighing to yourself. You really are frustrated with future-past-youâs insistence on not telling you anything. âItâs a bit of a chocolate fudge sundae, you know?â
ââŚyouâre a bit of a stress eater, huh,â Stella mutters. âAnd here I thought the whole âfood and foodâ thing was just a joke.â
WellâŚ
Stellaâs not wrong, is she?
âBut, thereâs nothing to say âsorryâ about, you know? My Lady. You could have done so much worse with me than this. I could have resisted, and I didnât. I could have stopped, any step of the way, but I didnât. After that trance, I knew what Seul-ki had done, but I let it happen.â
âAll because Iâd fallen for you.â
Ba-thump.
âPeople alter their minds all the time, Cibele. People drink alcohol and smoke cannabis to change their minds. Even you and I drink caffeine, right? The whole basis of psychiatric medications is to change peopleâs minds, help them break out of unhealthy patterns and mindsets, correct imbalances. Every day we try to alter one another â to express ourselves, and convince one another of our point of view. The âmindâ isnât something immutable; how could we achieve anything resembling âjusticeâ without convincing people to change their minds? You think of what you do as something different, but to me, all you did was help me out of an unhealthy pattern â and showed me I could fall in love with you.â
âStellaâŚâ
Ba-thump.
âAll this time, I tried to reduce my attachment to things, to the world. And yet, when Marina left me behind, a weight pulled upon me that could never be released. YouâŚyou remind me a lot of her. In more ways than you think. That you grasped me like this, that you wanted this, is proof of it.
âI tried to reduce my attachment to things, to know what held me back, to take refuge in the Dharma. And I knew, all this time, that I needed to let go. But I couldnât find the strength, you know? It never really took, no matter how hard I triedâŚuntil you helped me.
âI was so obsessed with thingsâŚwith my status. If itâs someone else helping me, even through such a method as yoursâŚwhat does it matter? What makes that form of enlightenment different from any other?â Stella sighs. âSoâŚdonât worry about it, too much. My LadyâŚârightâ and âwrongâ are such vague things anyway. People can judge you, but theyâll never truly understand, what led you to walk the path youâre on.
âAnd, right now, more than anythingâŚI want to know what kind of world you see. What kind of world you want to create, if you hold that power within you. I want to follow you, Cibele Epeli Imanis, every step of the way.â
âŚcan you really be so sure, though? That the world you want to create, whatever it might be, is the âright thingâ?
Stella can. Sheâs made it clear, that she is yours, and your purpose is now hers. That she holds no hatred toward you for what you did, and is indeed thanking you for it. That your power offers the chance to help others, in a way no one else can.
But can you be so sure, that youâll do the right thing?
Maybe not. You arenât the kind of person who can truly be certain of such things. So for now, all you can do is trust yourself, trust your friendsâŚ
and trust your beloved Stella Maris.
ââŚI guess I can try,â you say.
As your family might tell you, if you canât believe in yourselfâŚ
believe in Stella, who believes in you.
âYou better!â Stella tips her head up, and leans forwardâŚ
specifically, she leans in.
She leans in, and tugs at the hem of your shorts, so she can expose the skin beneathâŚand kiss it. Grinning ear to ear as she realizes she has one way she can get one over on you, even now.
âW-w-w-w-wha?!â you say, blushing furiouslyâŚand Stella just grins up at you, baring her teeth.
âWell, âmy Ladyâ, since you spent all this time toying with me, I figured I should at least show that Iâm no pushover. Iâll serve you, sure â Iâm yours, now, and I meant that. ButâŚthere is one thing you canât do. One thing I know better than you â and one way I know to express my love.â Stella giggles, blowing upon your bare skin, a-and you really donât know how to handle it! âAssuming you donât mind, my LadyâŚâ
âUhhhhhhhâŚâ Your brain just locks up. You were thinking about this earlier, you canât just act surprised when Stella decides she wants to express her love in the way she knows best! âS-s-s-s-s-sure!â
T-thereâs no way you can say no to that, right? E-even if thereâs not a lot of time, y-youâre so wet already, thereâs no reason not to â
Stella wiggles her eyebrows at you â ugh, sheâs so playful, so smug, and you get the feeling she wants to provoke a response, to enjoy your words shaping her â and she sings a little to yourself, as she tugs down waist of your shorts and panties, little by little, so she can kiss you in an entirely different place. âRelax, donât do itâŚ~â
âŚand now, despite Seul-kiâs words, despite everythingâŚ
maybe itâs you whoâs at Stellaâs mercy, you think, as you feel her tongue and her lips in a place no-one else has touched, a-andâŚooh, ah, mmnh, ooh, itâs â
itâs
sheâs
âŚsheâs good! Sheâs way too good!
And so you stay there, at the mercy of an entirely new kind of kiss, from your first loveâŚ
âŚ
âŚ
âŚ
For your achievement of losing your virginity, you have gained 1 Universal skill point!
Developerâs Note 2
Congratulations, Cibele. This note was going to say âcongratulations on losing your virginityâ, but you managed to ensnare a cutieâs mind before their body, didnât you? Iâm impressed! I definitely couldnât do that! I guess a head start has its advantages, huh?
With that said, now that youâve no doubt seen your skill gain for bathing a cutie in your golden light, I may as well properly enumerate the requirements for securing a cutieâs loyalty. Each will provide you 1 Universal skill point, plus, you knowâŚthe rewards of having someone love you with all their heart. That has to be worth something on its own, right~?
So! To secure a cutieâs loyalty formally â that is, to get your skill point â you have the following requirements:
First! The cutie in question must show you some form of fealty, at least on some level of consciousness. You, Cibele, their goddessâŚsomeone who can follow you to the end of the line. Youâll need that strength when the time comes â people you can trust unconditionally, even at the end of all things.
Second! The cutie in question must know about your powers, and know you used said powers on them! (Assuming you have, I mean. In theory, you could totally get this level of loyalty without explicit controlâŚ.but why would you? It feels too good, right~?).
And finally, third! The cutie in question must be willing, in principle, to allow you to control and alter others with your powers. They donât have to say yes every single time it comes up, but they must accept the possibility and be open to it, and preferably enjoy it.
Who was it, anyway? Was it Korri? Was it Calvina? Or maybe it was Stella~ Either way, Iâm happy for you, and hope you continue to grow in power to face the Queen. Bring more skills, layer of cuties~
Iâll be in touch, past-future-me. đ¤
Scribble doesn't have a blushing emote so please just pretend I've put two dozen of those here
I don't recall. What was Stella's question mark title?
It was 'Star of the Sea'! That's what 'Stella Maris' means, in Latin; it's one of the titles of the Virgin Mary.
Thanks for the chapter!
If you just pat peopleâs heads itheyâre going
There's an I they're ;)
Fixed!
Brilliant Cibele, tamer of cuties.
A two-fer! Thank you, thank you!
She's already done more with Stella than future-past Cibele had; hopefully she's beyond that little betrayal problem that FPC mentioned. So, good for Cibele!
And it's comforting that she left Stella with her own mind in important ways.
Presumably future-past-you got to this point eventually, but clearly not quickly enough. Who knows how the betrayal happened, though...?
In any case, Cibele fell for Stella, so she likes her as she is - more or less. On the other hand, Stella has fantasies of being shaped, so...best of both worlds, perhaps?
The chapter was so long and amazing. It was well worth the wait and I canât wait till she gets the free point for Kerriâs loyalty too. Hopefully thatâs soon :D
Glad to hear it! đ¤
The long cliff wasn't intentional - this chapter was split up for readability and thematic reasons. But a heat wave hit, then a bunch of stressful IRL shit, and my nostrils being glued shut for like a week. So, y'know, it is what it is. I at least got the cover commission done through all that, so that's one nice thing.
IRL sh*t is unfortunately still ongoing, though. No promises for update rate at this juncture, but I'll try to keep away from such massive cliffhangers if I can help it!
Wow! Just, wow. That was quite the chapter. Very much worth the wait. Now I find myself very curious who she will claim the loyalty of next!
Don't worry if you need to take time for irl stuff instead of writing and all that, taking that time away gives more chance for the ideas the stew, and you never know what might come to you if you do that :P
Cibby's got a date with Irma this weekend, right? Then again, who knows what'll happen between now and then?
Her first date with Irma, and at least two new skills to try out. Can't go in cold for that lunch date with Millia, after all.
I hope you can find the motivation to continue this story again someday, and that others like it may emerge. It was a bit tricky, to work around the controversy and nuance, but the atmosphere lends itself well to the 'lime-lit shadows' of superheroes. Not my cup of tea, but a worthwhile read nonetheless.
Your flexibility lets you whisper in your ear, even like this. You may aspire to be a heroine, but thereâs something so delicious about the way sheâs here, like a captive before her, as if youâre playing the role of a villainess as wellâŚ
Whispering in your own ear seems difficult regardless of flexibility.
And who is the captive before?