The Thaumaturge [Chapter 16: Limits]

"...So the werelions are taking care of her, and Diana should be fine sometime tomorrow." I finished.

I'd left out the graphic details, but it wasn't like I could hide the fact that I'd been having sex with Diana from Lauren and Viv. They understood how thaumaturges worked.

The explanation had taken a long time; Lauren had peppered me with questions. How quickly after we'd finished had she seemed to be in pain? Had there been anything visible or obvious? Had the pain seemed to emanate more from her chest or her abdomen? Did it onset quickly or over time?

By the end, she'd lapsed into a quiet, mild concern. She'd nodded along when I had described Maya's assessment.

Viv had been silent throughout.

"Well. I'm glad she's okay." Viv sounded mildly distasteful. "Has she mentioned rejoining the coven at all?"

I shrugged. "That's a conversation you'd have to have with her."

I didn't point out that the fact that she hadn't even told them that she was back on campus was not exactly an encouraging sign. That felt like it was probably just as obvious to Viv as the fact that I'd been fucking Diana.

Lauren's lips were pursed, thoughtfully, the uncomfortable conversation from earlier clearly put behind her, in favor of considering a magical puzzle. "Huh. I mean, Diana always did have less capacity for handling magic than the rest of us. She could improve that with training, if she cared more about that sort of thing. Hopefully she'll be okay...but it prompts a more important question."

"What?" Viv looked at her curiously.

Lauren refocused on me. "Why are you some kind of magical powerhouse all of a sudden, Matt? I mean, you've always been a good source of power don't get me wrong. But nothing that would be debilitating. Not even close."

Viv slowly nodded her agreement.

I decided not to tell them about Callistryllaxia's comments. It's not like I trusted the succubus either, but I didn't think they'd want me talking to her. And, it occurred to me, it might be useful to keep anything I learned about thaumaturges that wasn't common knowledge to myself, at least for now.

I felt a little guilty about it. It would be so easy to fall back into the pattern of trusting them more or less unconditionally. But keeping them at arms length felt right, at least for the moment.

Besides, what was I going to tell them? Hey, Callistrylllaxia came to me in a dream and told me that sexual conquests will make me more powerful?

So instead, I just nodded along. "I would like to know that too. Something to do with what Elana did to me, maybe?"

Lauren hesitated. "Maybe. But when I was researching how to fix what she did, I didn't really see anything that would indicate you'd be stronger because of what she did. I think it's something else."

"Well, if you have any ideas, let me know." I gave her a thin smile. "I can trade you for the information."

Lauren bit her lip. "It would help for Viv or I to see it firsthand. That might give us a better sense of how much your power has grown, if there's anything."

"Is that safe?" I recalled Diana's groaning and writhing.

Lauren shrugged. "The two of us have always had more capacity than Diana. And there are ways of storing excess magical energy; Diana just wasn't prepared. We will be."

I nodded, slowly. "Okay."

Viv was looking at me, expectant. "Alright. Anything else? If not, I've got some other things to take care of." I could hear the distance in her voice; her blue eyes were cold. Not angry; just reserved, withdrawn.

"Y'know, Viv, it doesn't have to feel this hard." I tried to say it as gently as I could.

She nodded. "I agree. It doesn't. I didn't pick this, Matt. You did, and it's not what I'd prefer. I'm not going to pretend it's fun."

I didn't have anything to say to that.

Viv straightened up from where she was leaning against the wall. "Anyway, I've gotta run. Let me know when you've sorted things out with the werelions, or if you need me for something."

And then she was gone, brisky walking out of the room.

I stared after her in silence for a moment.

"She feels rejected," Lauren said, quietly.

I shrugged, feeling a little defensive, but pushing past it. I wasn't going to get guilted into behaving differently. "I feel lied to and manipulated," I said, flatly.

Lauren sighed. "I know. I'm sorry, and I'm not saying you're wrong. Viv's just...watched a lot of people decide they didn't want to be on her team, follow her leadership, support her. And then she's watched those people walk out of her life. Maybe that's her own fault. But it still hurts her."

"I'm not walking out of her life. But this is how it has to be for now," I said, firmly.

Lauren rubbed her eyes -- weary, frustrated, resigned, maybe all three -- and then nodded. "Okay. Fine. Anything I can help you with now? I don't have anywhere to be for a little bit. If not, I'm just going to do some research."

It was the right question. I needed to start turning the magic welling up inside me into more practical applications, and I had lots of ideas for useful magic.

Too many to count.

When she'd enchanted my phone with that escape spell, Lauren had originally suggested something that would let me see if someone else was magical or supernatural. That would be really useful. I didn't want to get blindsided by someone new with powers I didn't understand.

But there was something that felt more important than that, for the moment.

Between the succubus, the gorgon, reading about the Greek thaumaturge getting taken by harpies, even sparring with Brooke while knowing she could probably kill me if she was using all her weapons...I was feeling vulnerable.

"Yeah, there is something I want your help with, actually. I need a weapon. Something that will give me an option if I get into a serious conflict and escape isn't an option."

"I can see why you'd want that, given everything that's been happening. Okay..." She pursed her lips thoughtfully, considering.

"Something that works against as wide a range of magical threats as possible," I added. "And ideally something that's easy to use."

She looked irritated, now. "Oh, is that all? Which do you want, the Deadly Sword of Doom or the Indiscriminate Wide-Beam Rending Ray? I keep both in the closet over there."

I laughed. "Actually something nonlethal would probably be better."

"Ah, you'll want an Enchanted Taser of Soul Electrocution, then. No problem, we've got one of those in the closet, too."

I hesitated, no longer certain that she was kidding. "...None of those are actually in the closet, are they?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course they're not in the fucking closet, Matt."

"Right, yeah."

She drummed her fingers on the desk thoughtfully. "Nonlethal, got it. Easy to use, check. Wide range of supernatural threats. So what do you not care about? Can this be something that is single-use, like the escape spell? Can it be something that is easy to use but potentially causes collateral damage, like a grenade or a bomb? How powerful are you hoping this is? How long can I take to make it?"

"Uh..." I was a little taken aback by how readily she'd agreed to make me a weapon and the specific questions.

She raised an eyebrow at my hesitation. "Look, thaumaturge, you cut a deal with us. This isn't what I'd do next, but you've got the leverage and you've made it clear we're doing things your way. So now I'm delivering on on our side of deal. Tell me about the kind of weapon you want."

I thought for a moment. "I think what matters most is that I can use it fast and easily, that it's likely to make someone -- or something -- that's threatening me back off, or give me time to run. I'd prefer nonlethal. I don't think it matters if it causes some collateral damage, as long as it's nonlethal. It would be great if it was not single-use; that way I wouldn't have to keep coming back to you to recharge it or get another one or whatever. And I'd like to have it soon, but..." I shrugged uncertainly.

She nodded. "Okay. Most of that is doable. Here's the thing: no weapon works against everything. That little dog statuette, the one that barks, that worked so well against Maya and Brooke? It only works against them. It's not going to stop a vampire. Or a witch. Or even a werewolf. That's why it can work well, it's calibrated to leverage a vulnerability werelions have. So you're talking about something that won't work great against anything, it'll just work okay against most things."

"That makes sense, I guess."

"Now, for it to be more than single use, it'll need power..." She brightened. "Oh. I've got a clever idea, I think."

"Yeah?" I was curious, now.

She shook her head. "I can't tell you the specifics until I get started and work out the difficulties. It should be pretty easy to make, I think -- it'll definitely be easy to use. It's going to use you, your well of magic, as the power source. Is that okay?"

I nodded. "Sure, that makes sense." I always had my own power with me, so that actually felt ideal. And I was, evidently, pretty powerful.

"What do you want it to look like?"

I considered. "Not my phone. Something that someone won't or can't take away from me..." Thinking of Diana, I asked, "Can it be a tattoo?" That would be good — nobody could take that away from me easily.

Lauren grimaced and shook her head. "Sorry. I get the benefits, but that's not really my specialty. I need a physical object to work with."

Crestfallen, I thought about it more. "Okay, how about a piece of jewelry? A watch, a ring, pendant or something?"

She wrinkled her nose. "Ugh. Okay. But I'm making it something understated. I'm not giving you some gaudy, ostentatious chain or something. It wouldn't look good on you."

I gave her a smile. "A personal stylist and a witch. How fortunate for me."

She snorted. "Alright. Give me a day or so to work on this and I'll see if I've got any questions for you. And...I'll need quite a lot of power up front. Maybe more after that. We'll see how much it actually takes."

"I figured. Makes sense..." I trailed off, feeling a little awkward in the wake of the long conversation we'd just had, not sure how to bridge the gap. "...Uh, so...the power now?"

Fortunately, for all that I still felt weird about the idea of sex-as-power-transfer, Lauren seemed like she was looking forward to it. She moved over to lock the door to the small room. She was wearing running shorts, with a sports bra; a light mesh tank top that hung loosely over it.

I marveled at just how much my life had changed over the last few days. Lauren was hot, eager, and she'd just locked the door so that we could hook up in a library research room. If you'd told Matt from a week ago this would be happening, he wouldn't have believed it.

But then, if you'd told him magic was real, he wouldn't have believed that either, I supposed.

She rummaged through a bag and pulled out a few things. I watched, curious, as she brought a little bottle of lubricant out.

"You...just carry lube around with you?"

"Yes." She gave me a level look that forestalled the lewd joke I was on the verge of making. "I do when I've got a friend who's a thaumaturge, anyway."

The way she said friend was a bit accusatory, I thought.

But she kept talking. "I mean, let's say you show up and tell me that you've made another ill-advised deal with, I don't know, a gorgon. Except this time one of the consequences is that if someone can't get you off in the next half-hour, you'll turn to stone forever. Or maybe we learn that some other witch is going casting a spell to, uh, destroy the university, or something. And I need power from you extremely quickly to stop her."

As she spoke, she pulled out a pendant on a chain from one of the desk draws, draping it around her neck. "I do my best, but the performance anxiety gets to both of us; things aren't quite slippery enough. Now you are a statue. All because I didn't have lubricant. So, yeah, I try to be prepared."

"Kind of specific examples, but I guess I see your point..." I realized that the pendant she'd pulled on was the same thing I'd seen Brooke show me. Bronzed metal with a green stone set in the middle. "...Did you make one of these for the werelions too?"

Lauren nodded. "A few of them. They're pretty simple, they just store magical power; I probably won't need this, but given what happened to Diana, it's better to be safe. We just need to make sure you, um...finish...on the amulet."

That made sense, I supposed.

Although it did prompt a sudden flash of realization.

I'd had sex with Viv and Diana. But Lauren had only ever given me blowjobs.

Callistryllaxia had told me my power could grow through conquests.

Maybe conquests meant actually having sex. Maybe blowjobs didn't count. That would explain a lot: Brooke, the succubus. Diana and I had sex for the first time the night of that art gallery exhibition. So my bedpost had gotten a few of additional notches in the last few days. Maybe that's why my power had grown.

I wasn't sure how to share that hypothesis with Lauren without revealing the conversation that Callistryllaxia and I had.

But now the idea of having sex with Lauren had some additional appeal above and beyond how I imagined her fit body would feel moving underneath mine. It would help confirm whether Callistryllaxia had been telling me the truth -- and if she had been, it would grow my power further.

So I opted for what I hoped was a less direct approach. "Gotcha. Finish on the pendant. I'll make sure my pullout game is on point, then," I quipped.

"Nope," she said, cheerfully.

I blinked. "Nope what?"

"Nope, we're not having sex. One, I've heard that line before. It is not confidence-inspiring. I'm not risking you being a little slow and ending up like Diana if you do turn out to be a ton more powerful than I expect. I've got too many things to do today to be incapacitated for hours. We're making sure you're finishing on the amulet." Her tone was friendly enough, if a little matter-of-fact.

She had a point. I certainly wasn't going to push her into sex if she didn't want to, obviously.

Besides which, she was already busy kneeling in front of me, tugging at the waistband of the shorts I was wearing.

The sight of her, kneeling between my legs, made me think again of how much had changed in the last few days.

All because of that first date with her. When she'd given me a blowjob, and I had a read a text message on her phone.

It felt like a million years ago, even though it had been less than week.

She grinned up at me, as if she was thinking of the same thing. "Pretty crazy last few days, huh?"

I nodded.

"Well, it'll slow down at some point. This pace is..." she peeled down my shorts and boxers together, and paused at the sight of my cock.

"...overwhelming," she finished, after a moment of mute, astonished staring.

I didn't blame her. For any human woman with reasonable preferences, I imagined that my cock's proportions were on the intimidating side of perfection, now.

Which, obviously, was exactly what Elana had intended in sculpting it.

I was silent for a moment as she marveled at it, wide-eyed. I wasn't even fully erect yet, although the way Lauren's pretty green eyes were fixed on my dick was having a predictable effect.

She reached out and touched it, tentatively; my cock twitched and got harder.

"Mmm." I let out a sigh of pleasure.

"If you don't mind, I would like to test something while I'm doing this." She squirted some lubricant from the bottle onto her hands, before grasping my cock firmly.

"What?" I wondered if she had her own hypothesis about why my power had grown. It would be convenient if she'd come to the same conclusion as Calli-

"When we used the Mirror of Misfortune, Elana mentioned that we weren't draining your properly." Lauren gave me a slow stroke with both hands.

"Right, I remember..." I closed my eyes, enjoying the lingering touch.

"Well, this time I'm going to try to drain you properly." She sounded determined.

"You know, if we had sex instead, it might make the experience more intense..." I said it, hopefully.

"Matt." She gave me a flat look along with the next pump of her hands. "No. Do you have some kind of weird fetish for debilitating witches?"

"Sorry, sorry. Okay." I didn't think I could push any further without either giving away that I had my own reasons for wanting to have sex, or just coming across as an asshole.

And I really wanted the weapon -- or whatever it was -- she was proposing to create.

...And I'd learn something if she was able to draining me more effectively anyway.

"So what are you going to do -- ah -- differently? " I let out a gasp as she started to pick up the pace with her lubricated hands.

"Normally I'd just kind of...let the magic flow out of you and into me, y'know?" Lauren said. She was staring, fixatedly, at my cock, watching it as she smoothly worked her hands up and down the length. "Pulling it out of you as you finish never occurred to me, but I bet I could. So I'm going to do that."

Her hands pumping me made a wet shlick with each stroke.

"God, your dick's big now," she said quietly. "It was one thing to see that succubus fuck you, but it's something else entirely to have my own hands around it."

There was an odd, aroused fascination in her voice -- partly like she found it hot, partly like I was an interesting science experiment.

"Y-yeah," I said. The cadence of her stroking, coupled with the compliment, had me starting to breathe harder.

"Have you fucked anybody else besides Viv, since the gorgon changed your cock?" Lauren asked curiously.

I just nodded. "I-I mean, obviously Diana and I..." I wasn't sure I wanted to run through the full list for her, but I was admittedly finding it kind of hot that she was even asking.

"Did she like it?" Now the question came out a little shyly from her. "Your size, I mean."

"I think she-" I broke off into a groan. God, her hands just felt better and better. "I think so, yeah," I managed.

"I feel like it would be kind of tough to take, if I'm honest," she confessed. "I mean, the succubus handled you easily, but she's sort of...made for that kind of thing. But Diana and...and Viv...they liked it?"

I gave her a curious look, trying to think clearly in spite of the urgency I could feel starting to build in my balls past every stroke of her hands. "Why are you asking? What're you even asking me -- if Viv liked it?"

Lauren looked embarrassed. "I dunno, I guess I just...don't have the opportunity to learn much about what other women like. And it's not like most men get the experience of seeing how women respond to two different sizes. So I wonder, y'know?"

She shifted her hands, moving one hand down to fondle my balls while the other one continued working my shaft.

"So far do they all seem to like your...new cock?" Lauren asked, thoughtfully, looking down at her hands working me. "Viv, Diana, the succubus, that gorgon, whatever werelion you're going to fuck in return for helping Diana -- you think they all just want a big, thick cock like you have now?"

"I-I guess, uh, yeah, maybe..." I stammered the words out, watching as her fist pumped up and down my thick shaft. Even if I knew the answer to her question for certain, Lauren had never really talked like this before, and I was finding it pretty hot.

"I mean, i-it looks...really good...I just figured you're big enough it would be uncomfortable for at least some of them. It's a little surprising that they all like you fucking them..." She trailed off, sentence unfinished. She was staring at my cock, face red, breathing heavily.

"I mean, I'm sure for some women, it would be..." I trailed off, staring down at Lauren in surprise. I hadn't expected her to talk this way. I took in her body language, her red face, the way she was avoiding eye contact.

She liked the idea of me fucking the other witches.

"...Do you like thinking about it, Lauren?" I whispered that out as evenly as I could.

Lauren looked up at me.

Then she looked away.

My cock surged. "Do you like thinking about me fucking other women?" I asked again, breathing hard now.

She gave a reserved, mute little nod....and I could feel her start pumping me more enthusiastically.

I groaned at the renewed sensations. God. I could feel my cock twitching wildly in her hands.

Fuck it, I decided. I wasn't going to last much longer anyway the way she was stroking me, and I'd never seen Lauren react this way to a conversation.

So I doubled down.

"You probably would've liked watching Viv test whether the gorgon really locked my orgasm away, huh? I mean...for...scientific purposes," I said, suggestively.

"Yeah," Lauren said. "Science," she added, almost in afterthought. Her breathing was a little ragged.

"You could've watched me fuck her. My big thick cock railing her. I couldn't cum, so I just keep pounding, and pounding, and pounding..." I trailed off, trying to keep control myself, but talking this way with Lauren was pretty hot.

Lauren didn't say anything this time, just sucked in a little hiss of breath and started pumping my cock even faster with her one hand; the other was still groping and massaging my balls.

"Maybe next time -- ah -- you can watch," I managed. I was on the edge of an orgasm already.

"Yeah," she breathed. "You and the succubus was hot enough. What I...I really want is to w-watch you fuck Viv with your big c-oh-"

She didn't get to finish the sentence, letting out a gasp of surprise.

Hearing that admission, from Lauren, was so fucking hot.

It sent me cresting over the edge immediately and unexpectedly.

There was no warning; I was as caught off guard as she was. My cock responded by swelling up and spraying cum across her face so forcefully she was shocked into a stunned, openmouthed silence.

I groaned with the intensity of the sensation.

The second and third spurts went across her face as well, before she seemed to remember that she'd had a plan.

"Shit," she muttered, and I saw her refocus and her brow furrow.

My groan became a strangled grunt. I realized, that as she'd said, I could feel her trying to pull more magic out of me. I didn't resist it -- it felt exquisite, incredible, a stroking, tugging sensation that went along with her hands perfectly. If anything, it was extending and elongating the bliss of the orgasm.

I shuddered over and over. My cock just kept going, rope after rope of cum spraying across Lauren.

When I recovered my senses somewhat, I remembered that I'd been supposed to finish on the amulet. I looked down to realize that she'd at least had the wherewithal to make sure that happened; she'd directed the rest of my orgasm across the amulet at her collarbone. And her chest and neck itself.

Lauren was covered. Bizarrely, though, the amulet appeared clean -- and now it was glowing with an odd, lingering internal light.

Lauren blinked, eyes wide. "Holy shit. No wonder Diana had trouble. That's a lot of power." She stood up, a little unsteadily.

I stood too, reaching for the box of tissues to help us both clean up -- but black spots danced across my vision and I could feel consciousness fuzz a little bit, and I sat back down. "Oof...." I winced at the dizzying sensation.

Lauren took a few steadying breaths. "Jeez, Matt...That is a lot of power. Enough that you filled the pendant with plenty for me to spare. More than you used to give. A lot more, even if you assume that's partly because I pulled more out of you..."

And then she paused, looking at me. "You okay? You look a bit wobbly."

I nodded. "I feel drained," I managed.

"Maybe I pulled too much out of you..." Lauren looked me over with concern. "And you need to pace yourself, give yourself time to recover. Between me, the succubus, Diana...now you have to pay the werelions...you're giving out a lot of power in a really short amount of time, Matt. Yeah, you might be stronger somehow, but you're not limitless."

I nodded. I could feel myself recovering; I stood up more slowly, experimentally.

Lauren eyed me. "Make sure you get rest, Matt. Give your well time to refill."

"I will." I took a few steadying breaths, then reached for the tissues, grabbing some and handing her the box.

She and I both cleaned up, silent. I wondered if she'd say anything else about what had just happened, what she'd just said while she'd been jerking me off.

She didn't.

I wasn't sure how to broach it, exactly, and I didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

But things were complicated enough between us already; I didn't need to add another unspoken dynamic to the list.

I'd regret it if I didn't at least ask. "Lauren, I can't speak for anyone else, but if you wanted to, y'know. Watch me, sometime. With someone else. I'd be game."

She didn't make eye contact; she hunched her shoulders a little more. "I-I just got a little...carried away, that's all."

"Look, if that's all it was, cool, I get it. But I just...wanted to make sure you knew that I think it's a pretty hot idea and I'm game sometime, if you'd like."

She hesitated. "It doesn't really matter anyway. I-I wouldn't even know how to go about asking Viv, o-or anybody, to..." She trailed off, embarrassed.

"Tell you what. No pressure, but if you're interested, why don't I see if I can find my way to a conversation about it," I said. I gave her a smile.

She flushed bright pink, and still wouldn't look at me...but nodded her assent.

Hell yeah.

---

A few minutes later, I gave Lauren a hug, thanked her for helping me, and headed out shortly after that, leaving her to do research and work on whatever it was she was going to make for me.

Blearily, as I left the library, I realized that -- in the wake of everything that had been happening and sleeping through the entire day yesterday -- I'd lost track of what day it was.

I reviewed the last week in my head.

I'd met Lauren and heard about thaumaturges for the first time this past Friday.

Saturday night had been my date with Viv.

Sunday, I'd met Diana, and seen Viv again.

On Monday, I had taken sculpture class and met Elana; on Monday night, she'd locked away my power.

Tuesday, I'd fucked Viv, done some research with Lauren, fucked Brooke, talked to Clint, and summoned a succubus to fix my gorgon-induced problem.

Wednesday, I'd fucked Diana...then a succubus had visited me in my dreams.

No wonder I was feeling fatigued, I thought ruefully. Even putting all the supernatural elements aside, that was more sex in a week than I'd had in the preceding year. And a lot of late nights and stress on top of it.

Lauren was right; this pace would kill me. I needed to slow down a little bit.

I heaved out a weary sigh. It was Thursday morning.

Well, one easy thing I had decided that I was not going to do: go to today's sculpture class.

I still couldn't decide how much of what Elana had inflicted upon me had been intentional and how much had been inadvertent, but I didn't feel up to the task of talking to her. I sent her a nondescript, student-to-professor email, saying I was under the weather and was sorry to miss class today.

I had an engineering lecture this morning as well. I didn't have any of my notes or stuff with me -- I'd planned on heading home after the library last night -- but I figured I could at least go sit through it.

On my way, I pulled out my phone and texted Diana. She might not be awake yet, but I figured either way after my engineering class I could check in on her.

The text chain between my roommates had a ton of unread messages from last night, mostly planning tomorrow's party at our place.

I recalled Chris from yesterday evening, asking me if I was going to bring someone. Maybe one of those girls you’ve magically convinced to sleep with you, sex wizard, he had joked.

Suddenly, a party actually seemed like a half-decent idea. I needed to slow down a little bit, relax. I decided I deserved a makeshift weekend. Two days of taking it easy and normalcy.

I'd go to engineering class today, get caught up on some of the actual schoolwork I should've been doing, and hang out with my roommates at this party tomorrow.

Maybe it still wouldn't feel normal, but it would be more relaxing than everything else that had been going on.

That just left what ought to be a simple question: should I invite anyone to come to the party?

After what had just happened, I was half-tempted to invite Lauren and someone else. But I decided it would be too transparently obvious to Lauren how I was hoping the evening would end. I needed more time to talk to someone else -- Viv, probably -- to get them on board.

And anyway, I couldn't imagine any combination of people who I could invite that would make it relaxing to have two of them around. Brooke and Viv? Viv and Diana? Even Viv and Lauren felt like it would just mean the evening would devolve into some version of the conversation the three of us had just been having.

I didn't want that. So I was going to invite one woman; the only question was who.

It would be a good peace offering to Viv. Emphasize that in spite of the way things were going, I still liked her. Considered her a friend.

It might be a good peace offering for Brooke too. If I was going to be dealing with the werelions on a consistent basis I needed to know them better anyway.

Lauren was tempting, obviously, and not just because of what had happened. She'd started all this. I trusted her in a way I didn't trust Viv.

Diana -- if she was feeling better -- would be fun at a party too, I imagined. And I really liked her. I'd been able to count on her to have my back this entire time.

It was also admittedly tempting, I realized, to just invite nobody. To have a normal evening for the first time in days, hang out with my decidedly nonmagical roommates and their decidedly nonmagical friends, drinking nonmagical beer, nothing supernatural happening in sight.

I sighed. Tough choice.