Catalyst

[Lakot]

Ben looked up in surprise, scratching his chin "I haven't shown you the shower yet? It might be the best thing ever, c'mon i'll show you" he said, leading her upstairs to the aged, but well-kept bathroom beside his bedroom and across the hall from his sisters. "See, you turn this knob and it starts the water flowing, you turn it until its hot enough..."

"Cop Show, Cooking Show, Sports, Cop Show, Infomercial..." Ben said as he relaxed on the couch in the living room in his pajamas and bathrobe, idly channel surfing while he waited for Mori to come back from her cabin. If her first impressions of her first shower were any indication, he was going to have to come up with a good excuse as to why the water bill was going to skyrocket. Lily being eternally busy with school and the hospital had worked out well so far, but if the hunt was really going to intensify he'd have to come up with a wealth of good excuses for what he was doing with his time. But for now, all was right with the world, the pages belonged to Mori, dinner was eaten and evening television beckoned.

[Peeker]

Hair still slightly damp, Mori floated down the hallway like a gleeful spirit, light on her feet, nearly dancing. The 'shower' was exhilarating - euphoric, even! Her robe's hem bounced and the smile on her face was probably never going to fade. Between the successful hunt and the incredible comfort of that contraption, she'd never stop smiling!

"That was wonderful, Ben! Thank you so much for sharing it with me!" she immediately sat down hip-to-hip with the boy, grasping at her knees. "You're watching that thing, again, right?" a pause - "Hey, I was thinking about what we were saying before, though. About the contest getting more intense." she nods. "You're right - we're really going to have to stay focused, to be ready. But I'm sure we can do that, together!"

[Lakot]

Ben watched Mori float into the room, open his mouth to make a wry comment about his world having a one-up on hers. But his words caught in his throat as she plunked herself down next to him. "So uh, enjoy the shower then?" he said as he cleared his throat, heart suddenly hammering away in his chest. "Yeah, uh, TV, it's TV. The stuff they have on at night is usually better than the stuff during the day" he said, still flipping through channels.

"Yeah, intense. At the very least more crowded" he said, scratching his neck. "Yup! You focus on figuring out where they are and i'll focus on figuring out how to get there" he said. He might not be able to cast epic magic spells, but knowing where everything in the County was came in handy too.

[Peeker]

"Yeah. All we'll have to do is keep focused." the teevee blared on, and Mori's mind wandered for a moment. "Actually, I was thinking of a way you might be able to help me with that."

Without waiting for his curiosity to be piqued, Moretta slithered herself across the couch - and more specifically, laid herself across Ben's lap. "I believe the word for it in your language is 'spanking'? It has always been an excellent source of encouragement and focus for me when I have difficult tasks ahead. I wouldn't be imposing if I asked, would I?"

[Lakot]

Bens heart stopped , in stark contrast to its prior pounding, as he tried to process what had just happened. The logic center of his brain told him that the girl fawning over couldn't have just tossed herself over his lap and asked him to spank her, that sort of thing only happened in porn. Poorly written porn at that. But his senses were telling him otherwise and after a quick cheek-bite to determine if he were dreaming (he wasn't) he tried to check in to deal with the task (opportunity?) at hand.

"I...you...uh...what?" he began brilliantly as he tried to recall how talking worked. Ben cleared his throat more than was entirely necessary before he started again. "You want me to er, spank you? To encourage you?" he asked, exerting a great force of will to keep his hands to himself. "How...how exactly does that work?" asked, swallowing and wondering if this would chalk up to some kind of translation error, much like that near-debacle with the traffic light.

[Peeker]

"Oh we would do it all the time!" Moretta assured Ben with a smile. She sounded like she was recounting a fun tradition, maybe a visit to the beach or baking a cake. "Its not like you can forget that there's something important going on when you get a reminder every time you bend a little, or sit down... and its sort of a fun way to ask for help - someone else gets to do something alot more fun than drill you on scrolls, and it really makes them care about if you succeed, and stuff."

Mori twisted so that her ribcage lay on Ben's legs, and rested her elbow on the couch, to prop up her head. When she inhaled, her stomach nearly expanded to touch Ben's. Her hair was damp, and smelt softly of soap. She gave a gentle smile, seeing his tense expression. "I hope I'm not imposing too much... we'd all do it for each other - even the Master - the one who leads the School, the Tower - would offer to help us sometimes. I... I don't know what its like for you here. I'll get up if - I haven't insulted you, have I?"

Her concerned pout was warm enough to melt butter. And possibly the boy who was uncomfortably looking down upon her, too.

[Lakot]

Bens thought process was thoroughly derailed by the mental image of spankings happening 'all the time' in the (in his mind, all girl) tower. He eventually shook himself out of his eye-glazing fugue sate and rubbed his eyes, looking down at the girl who had just tossed herself over his lap.

"No no no, you haven't insulted me, just uhhh, surprised me. Cultural differences, Surprised me" he repeated as he held up his hands in a placating manner. "It is eh, different around here. This sort of encouragement uh...stops, when we're younger" he said, scratching the back of his neck. "But uh...if you'd like to, if you think it would help find the pages, i'll eh, i'll encourage you" he said with a weak, flustered smile. "Just eh...tell me more about how it works in your tower".

[Peeker]

"Oh...!" twisting in place again, Mori brought her palms together to prop up her chin, and her expression turned thoughtful. "Well lets see. I mean, everyone does it a little differently, of course. But-- well... generally we go up to the person we want to help us - that's you, in this case - and we ask - y'know, like I did - and then they... just do it!" she grins. "Its so funny, I never really thought about how it might be different somewhere - we've all been doing it our whole lives, you know? Its just... we take it for granted. Well, uhm, you can lift my robe whenever you'd like - if you'd like, I mean, and its usually a good idea for -you- to decide when to stop, since I kind of get squirmy and chicken out too soon for it to really have a lasting effect." she turns her head. "I uhm, I might kick a little, but not too much, I promise."

[Lakot]

He thought he was done being surprised. He thought nothing would ever top the dimension-hopping magic scavenger hunt in his backyard. But the pretty girl laying over his lap clearly disproved that. "Yeah, funny" he said as he cleared his throat again and ran his hands through his hair, taking in her words. "So I just...do it? Okay" he said with a smile that bordered on eager. "I think I can manage that" he said as he shifted around, getting himself comfortable. "Don't uh, worrying about kicking. I'm new at this, so it might take me some time to get it right".

He lifted his hand, remembering to breathe before he brought it down on her upturned rump with a sharp 'Swop'. He paused to enjoy the way her backside shook before he raising his hand and bringing it down again with more force.

[Peeker]

"New at this? What do you me-an? Eep!" Moretta gave a little squeak of surprise as his palm impacted her tush. Not only did her bottom jiggle a bit, the rest of her tensed up, and even her hair swayed a bit as her body reacted.

The lass turned her head a degree. "..w-what'd you me-an! Aw!" Her feet curled and burrowed towards the cushions of the couch. With two lucky strikes of his hand, Ben had swatted the question right out of her mind-- because after a pair of opening smacks like that, he obviously hadn't meant that he was new at giving a spanking! He must have meant the kicking part, or maybe it was a weird idiom for saying it was his first time spanking her.....

...but Moretta wasn't thinking linguistics so much as logistics - like how much she could wiggle or squirm without falling off the boy's lap, as the first stinging swats fell down on her rear.