Love and Submission

"I thought you said vacuuming builds up magical energy, though." Viv replied, her eyebrows knitted slightly.

"Well, there might be something that uses your aural energy to clean. Why don't you give that manual of yours a quick look-see?" she asked, with an encouraging smile. Paige suddenly perked up again, and she flew over and hovered in the air next to Viv, releasing a series of curious little chirps. Mira stared at the bird with curiosity on her face. "What's the matter, Paige?" The bird flew over to Viv and started gently pecking her plastic shell, and the room filled with the sound of her disembodied giggles as she wiggled her hoses around. "Stop that!" Mira chided, but Viv put her arm hoses up and wagged them dismissively.

"It's fine, really. It tickles!" Mira rolled her eye and let out a little sigh at the bird's antics.

"I think she got excited when she heard me mention your manual - she must want to copy it down." The bird stopped pecking for a moment then looked over at Mira and nodded.

"She can... do that?" Viv asked. Mira nodded. "I mean, it's all in my head, so... how exactly does that work?"

"Beastiaries are capable of recording any text in their pages, even magical text like the manual you've got in your head."

"It won't... hurt, will it?" Viv asked, a bit sheepishly.

"Oh, no. Not at all! I share new alchemical recipes and spell ideas with her all the time. You might feel a little lightheaded for a second, but that's it. Of course, It's completely up to you whether you want to share with her - and exactly what you want to share."

"Um, that sounds okay, then. How do I... do it, exactly?" The bird let out a happy little squawk.

"Just... think about what you want her to write down, and she'll do the rest."

"O-okay," Viv said, still sounding a bit uneasy. With that, she went silent for a moment, and then the beastiary got to work, tracing little symbols against her hard plastic shell with her beak. Viv suppressed her giggles as the bird continued to trace for another minute or so before her body unfolded, and she became a simple book once again. The pages began to turn by themselves, slowly at first. Once they reached a certain point, a soft glow emanated from the book as the pages began to rush by in a frenzied blur of light and sound as Viv spoke up again. "Oh, this does feel weird." I could just barely see text streaking across the page in a hurried scribble through the glow as the pages flew by faster than I could ever hope to read. After about a minute or so, the flipping of pages began to slow a bit, until it finally stopped, and the glow subsided as the pages flipped back seemingly to the beginning of what the magical bird had transcribed. I tentatively reached for it, then gingerly grabbed the old leather tome and glanced down at the pages.

Sure enough, there was a title page for the manual, listing Vivienne's name and accompanying model number. It listed her 'model' as an Upright Autonomous Vacuum - that explained why she didn't have any buttons, at least. It felt odd to think of her as a machine, even though she was standing right in front of me - vacuum or not, she was still my Vivienne. I flipped through to the table of contents and found various sections explaining Aura, the ins and outs of shifting, her vacuum anatomy, and one describing the various features available to her in her vacuum form.

Admittedly, I don't really blame Viv for not wanting to read this thing - it was dry as hell, a strange mix of marketing jargon and legalese that made my eyes glaze over as I pored over the pages; it may have been a manual for a magical vacuum, but... at the end of the day, it was still a manual for a vacuum.

"Yikes, this is pretty dry," I said, with a shrug. I frowned and passed the book over to Mira to look at. She took it from me and scanned the pages for a bit. I saw the corner of her lips droop further downward the more she read.

"No kidding," she said, raising her eyebrow as she continued to skim the page. She flipped to another one and started to read through it when Viv suddenly spoke up.

"I think I found something! Some of these features have a little 'A' next to them. I think those will use up this aura stuff. There's even a Dust Destroyer setting!" Mira licked the tip of her index finger and flipped through a few more pages in rapid succession, then traced her finger down the page for a moment until she reached the bottom, and then she looked up at Viv and beamed. "I think you're right! That sounds like just what we need to get the job done."

"Should I give it a shot, then? I don't really know what it'll do." Mira grinned and rubbed her hands together eagerly.

"Well then let's find out together, shall we?" She looked from Vivienne to me, and I just nodded - I had to admit, I was curious, too.

"Okay, then," Viv said. "Here goes nothing..." She was silent for a moment, and then I heard the familiar whirring of her internal motor as it kicked on, still clanking along like it had that morning. But that was where the familiarity stopped, as Viv's giant vacuum tits started to glow. Two small holes formed in the shelf of plastic, and two small metallic protrusions suddenly appeared from out of the holes. They were pink and slightly tapered at the end, looking like some sort of little tubes... but also, definitely nipples.

"Well then, I guess I do have nipples... huh," Vivienne said, but then she went quiet as her 'nipples' began to spin. "Uhhh... okay, then." Faster and faster her nipple tubes spun, and then things got even stranger as Viv's chest began to glow. Her bust became slightly translucent from the ethereal light emanating from the inside of her glossy plastic gazongas, and a high-pitched whine came from the nipple-like tubes as they began to spin so fast that my eyes could barely keep up.

Suddenly, golden streams of light poured from her nip-nozzles and snaked around the ends of them, twisting and contorting themselves as they danced around the little tubes. The racing rivulets of light suddenly froze as Viv's nipple pipes stopped spinning in an instant. The seconds marched on as her motor continued to run, and we all were waiting for something, no, anything... to happen.

"Um, is this supposed to happen?" Viv asked. I looked over at Mira and she just shrugged.

"I have absolutely no idea," she said, matter-of-factly. "I'm a magical doctor, not a magitech specialist. I'm afraid I only have a basic grasp of the inner workings of magical machines."

"Maybe they're still... charging up, or something?" I offered. Viv raised her arm hoses in a little shrug.

"Um... maybe," she said, though she didn't sound so sure. Just then, the metal protrusions extended out slightly as the light began to gather in brilliant golden orbs at the ends of them. The orbs became larger and brighter, until they were nearly the size of baseballs. Suddenly, the gathered energy exploded outward as the two circular bubbles of glowing energy began to expand and envelop the room.

I stared in awe as the wave of light gently drifted toward me; it was really quite pretty. As soon as the light touched me, my skin began to tingle, and when it passed through me, I noticed that all of the dust that had gotten on me from where Paige had rested against me was gone. The energy continued to flow outward through the room, and everything it touched became completely free of any dust. When the energy finally dissipated as it reached the walls, there wasn't a speck of dust left on anything in the entire lobby. The metallic pink nozzles on Viv's chest retreated back into their holes, and then the holes closed, somehow leaving the plastic perfectly smoothed over.

"Well, I'd say that took care of the dust," Viv said, clearly satisfied at her handiwork. I looked over at Mira to find her frowning as she looked around at the spotless room - she actually looked a little disappointed. Mira let out a small sigh before she spoke up again.

"Yes... it did," she said, her voice a bit forlorn. She jumped a bit as the book in her hands stirred as the pages folded themselves into a bird again, and Paige flew out of her hands and hovered in front of her for a moment before letting out an inquisitive, hopeful squawk. Mira smiled and nodded. "Alright, alright - no, I haven't forgotten. Go on then, you silly old bird. Have fun!" The bird chirped excitedly as it flew in a little circle around us then soared through the room and wriggled its way through the doggy door at the bottom of one of the doors at the back of the shop. When Mira spoke up again, she had seemingly perked up a bit. "Well, she was clearly eager to get going. I'm glad we were able to get her cleaned up - all thanks to you." She grinned as she looked over at Viv. "How are you feeling, by the way? Any different?"

"Sort of? I guess I feel... a bit like a weight's been lifted off of me." Mira nodded and grabbed the thermometer from her pocket, then pointed it at Viv's chest again - the device still set off alarm bells, but her smile widened as she read the results.

"Well, that definitely seemed to lower your aura levels a bit, but you're still in the red, as you can tell. Still, we're on the right track. Once we get them low enough, you should be right as rain again - no medicine necessary."

"Oh. Great!" Viv said, cheerfully. "Is there anything else you need cleaned up around here?" Mira raised her eyebrow at the question.

"Well, since you're offering... let me see..." She put her finger to her chin and was silent for a moment as she deliberated. Her eye widened as she flashed an excited smile. "Oh! There is, in fact. Actually... would you like to shift back for it? I'm curious to see if you can still utilize your abilities in your human form. I have something I'd like to show you guys - I think you'll find it pretty neat!"

"Oooh, that sounds interesting. I'll go get changed then. Be back in a minute!" She zoomed off toward the bathroom again, and Mira looked over at me and grinned.

"How are you holding up?" she asked. "Still feeling overwhelmed?" I shook my head.

"I'm alright," I said, as I finally stood up from the chair. "Thanks for asking."

"You're welcome. I'm guessing you're a bit new to all this?" I nodded.

"I just learned about all this magic stuff a couple months ago, actually. Viv told me she was a shifter the night I proposed to her."

"Ah," she said. "It must have been hard for her to share that with you; good on you for supporting her." Heat bloomed in my cheeks as I ran a hand through my hair.

"Well, I love her, after all - how could I not support her?" Mira's smile widened at that as she nodded.

"I'm glad to hear that - I'm sure Vivienne feels the same way about you," Mira said. I nodded, after a moment, still feeling a bit ashamed that I couldn't bring myself to tell Viv the truth back at the sex shop. "Have you two made any plans for the wedding, yet?" I shook my head.

"Not really. We haven't even picked out a date yet."

"Well, there's no need to rush - for now, just enjoy each other's company. You've got plenty of time to figure it out." I nodded and smiled at her just as Viv came out of the bathroom and practically skipped up to the two of us.

"Alright, I'm all good to go!" she chirped, with a mile-wide grin on her face - clearly, she was excited to go see what Mira wanted to show us... and get herself feeling better, too.

"Alright, let me just go find John and Beth, and we can be on our way."

"Um, what should I do with this?" I asked, holding up Viv's purse.

"Oh, you can stick it behind the counter for now. We've got a bit of a walk ahead of us, I'm afraid. Don't worry, it'll be safe there." I nodded, and Mira began to walk toward the door in the middle of the back wall behind the counter, and we followed close behind. I stuck the purse in the little shelf underneath the counter before we left the room - there was a backpack already sitting in there that I figured must have belonged to John.

PART 5: Into the Maze

Viv and I stepped through the door, and we found ourselves in a little waiting room, where John and Beth were sitting down at a coffee table. John was typing away on his laptop, and Beth was scrolling through her phone. The vacant chairs had an ugly floral print that I would expect to see at my grandma's house, not a magic shop. There were three doors leading out of the room, one to the left, one in the back, and one on the right - the door on the left had three large black dots painted on it. There were some little labels stuck on two of the doors: the right door was labeled 'hallways,' the back one read 'stairwell,' and the one on the left said 'pantry.' I glanced at the walls and saw some photos of strange-looking places: one had a forest made of giant mushrooms, and another showed a waterfall that seemed to be flowing upwards - in fact, it was flowing upwards; it turns out the pictures weren't pictures at all, but actually moved. I tore my gaze from the strange decorations and looked over at the diplomas hung up on the wall. Oddly enough, the oldest one was evidently issued a couple hundred years ago; it was a degree for some kind of magical university, and the paper still looked pristine for seemingly being two centuries old. I suddenly wondered just how old Mira actually was, but I pushed those thoughts aside as the sound of Beth's voice pulled me back to reality.

"Hey guys. Did everything go alright?"

"Yeah," Viv said, with a warm smile. "I should be all good even without any medicine, but Mira said she wanted to show us something cool."

"Oooh, what is it?" Beth asked excitedly.

"Since Vivienne has so kindly offered to help me do a bit of cleaning up around here in order to fix her little sleeping problem, I figured you all might like to see just how this place gets around." John perked up a bit as he nodded.

"Well, I have been wondering about that... I guess I'll pick this back up later," he said, as he promptly shut his laptop and stood up. Beth did the same with her own cup before she joined the rest of us.

"Great! I think you'll all enjoy this," Mira said, cheerfully as she beckoned us to follow her. "Make sure you don't wander off, though. I don't want anyone getting lost on the way." I wondered how we could even get lost in a building this small as we headed over to the door on the right and went through it... and my eyes widened at the impossibility of the space we found ourselves in.

We were in a ridiculously long hallway, with plain-looking wooden doors as far as the eye could see; I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that there was simply no way for a hallway like this to exist.

"How is this all possible?" I asked, as I looked around with my mouth agape as we began to walk down the hallway.

"The shop's bigger on the inside," Beth piped up, before Mira could answer.

"Yep; what she said!" Mira chirped happily. I looked over, and the door next to us had another one of those little doggy doors in it, plus a label stuck to it that read, 'Crunch-Wrap's Room.'

"Who's Crunch-Wrap? I was wondering about all the doggy doors around here, actually. Is that your dog?" Vivienne asked, and I could tell that she had gotten her hopes up about seeing (and petting) a pooch.

"Nope. Crunch-Wrap is my cat, actually. He's on vacation right now, hence why I decided to let Paige have the run of the place. Those three do not get along at all."

"Wait... three?" I asked, as I scrunched up my face in confusion; the vacation thing was odd, too, but I figured I'd tackle the weirder of the two first.

"Oh, right. They're a Two Cat; two cats in one!" Mira cheerfully replied. "They help out around the shop all the time, and I figured they've earned themselves a break; they're off gallivanting around... wherever it is they go when they take time off." She did a little shrug and didn't speak anymore on the subject.

"I... see," I said, with a sigh and a little shake of my head. Absolutely nothing was normal around here, was it?

"So... why don't these doors have any labels?" Viv asked, as we eventually passed into an area with unmarked doors.

"Well, I sort of ran out of labels," Mira said, as she turned crimson. "After a bit of a, er... clerical error a little while back, I wanted to make sure everything was properly labeled. Most of my labels were used up on the product in the stock room, so it's been a bit of a process - I need to order some more at some point."

"What's behind all these doors, anyway?" I asked, as I marveled at the sheer number of entrances we had already passed by.

"Closets. A lot of closets. Annoyingly enough, I have enough toilet paper to last an eternity, but no labels at all in any of the ones I've checked."

"You mean you haven't checked all of them?"

"Well, the shop's a big place; there's a ton of doors, and I haven't gotten around to checking them all yet," Mira replied.

"Fair enough, I guess," I said, with a shrug as we all kept on walking. Eventually, we reached the end of the hallway and took a left, and off to one side of the next passage there was a large glass window and a door that led into an incredibly large pool. Past that was a fully equipped fitness center. God, this place was huge. I turned my attention back to the group and we all kept walking down stretches of hallway for what seemed like ages. Along the way, we had turned so many corners that I had lost track of just how far we'd come in the maze of endless hallways - the only landmarks were the strange amenities we seemed to pass as we went - we had walked past a horse-riding track, an ice-skating rink, and what looked like an office building. We must have been walking for an hour or so before I finally spoke up.

"Are we almost there?" I asked. "We've been walking for a while."

"It shouldn't be too much longer..." Mira said, though she sounded a bit unsure. "... I think."

"Mira, you do know where we're going, right?" John asked.

"Of course, I know where we're going," Mira replied hastily. As we turned a corner, there was another window off to the side that showed a room with a large, inky black hole in the floor.

"Woah, what's with that hole in the ground?" Viv asked. "Where does it go?" Mira looked over at it and frowned.

"Oh, the mystery hole? No idea."

"Mystery... hole? You mean you don't know where that goes, either?"

"Well, if I did, it wouldn't be a mystery hole, now, would it?" Mira asked. I nodded, feeling a bit silly - she made a very good point. "I figure some things are better left unexplored. It kind of gives me the creeps, anyway. I did drop a rock down there once, though. I never did find out where it went - it's a shame, really; it was a really neat rock - it looked remarkably like a guitar pick."

"I bet you could make some really good rock music with it," Viv said, with a smirk. I snorted at the terrible pun, and Beth giggled, too as she raised her arm up for a high five, which Viv gleefully accepted. Even John had cracked a smile, but Mira's brows were furrowed - I guess she didn't care for puns. Her frown deepened as she held up her fingers and started muttering directions to herself as she counted them off, one by one.

"Well, uh... I've got some bad news. if we've reached the mystery hole room, I... er, definitely took a wrong turn somewhere."

"Wait, so we're... lost, then?" I asked, as my stomach lurched, and my heart rate spiked. I couldn't even imagine how hard it would be to find our way back though the tangle of identical-looking hallways. Mira shook her head vigorously as soon as the question left my lips.

"No, no, no; we're fine - we'll just have to start over from the waiting room, is all."