"I... okay, that's... okay," he says, a little disappointed. They did say something in health class about how you want to use more than one form of birth control, and had the math and everything... but... oh well. "Possibly we could have a ritual with really really really good birth control instead of slightly magically assisted, at some point?" he says. "Not a high priority, though." 

The last item on the list is... "I do want to um, take the effect off soon after we put it on, to make sure, like, you're actually happy with it when not magically under the influence, if that... makes sense." he says. "Do you have a preference on, um, if you want to do that, um, before or after... um..." he blushes. He's not entirely sure what his preference is (though he'd rather have the sex than not have it) (though if it turned out she hated it after the fact that would that be... rape? He doesn't want to rape her. Not like that). 

"I suspect you'll be more comfortable if we have the check-in before you take my virginity? So I'm pretty happy to do it that way. Of course the reckless romantic part of me is like 'I want to be yours in every way possible', but it's important to be careful and thorough about deciding which reckless things to do, and it makes sense to hold off just a little on having the hot mind control sex."

"Probably, yeah," he says with a tinge of regret, and possibly some relief. She will almost certainly not change her mind at the last minute. And better to be safe than sorry. "I... might... give you one or two orders to see how it feels?" he says. That's probably good practice, right? "But yeah I'll take it off and then we'll do it again and then we can have fun. He grins. "And then we should... I have no idea how we want to schedule it but I want to make sure you're ok a bunch before we make this permanent, even if that means doin the ritual once a week or once a month or something. Once a month is probably easier? Though I might want, um, sooner than that the first time. I suppose I can just let you go and then wait after." 

"How about we try to go one week on, one week off, repeat, until you feel comfortable keeping me, and then monthly checkins after that by default?" She kisses his cheek. "I'm very happy to give myself to you once a month indefinitely. Though I guess it'll get less convenient when you're off at college; Blake rituals can be adapted to work elsewhere but it needs a lot more setup that way."

It'll be... six months until he's at college, give or take? Damn that's soon. "Possibly I will be ok with less consistent checkins by the time I get to college," he says. "Also, man, we're going to be having a long distance relationship, aren't we. That's... well, that is what it is. I do really wish I could safely make a portal, but... it's dangerous, isn't it." He sighs, and gives her a quick snug. "Okay. I'm done with this side. Should I go through the other side? Some of the things I think I will have not many questions about. Like being bored." He grins. 

"Portals are a complicated subject, yes." Snug. "Sure, let's go through the next page."

Flip! There are no checkboxes on this side, but he can still go through one at a time. "...there isn't something sensible I can help you with during the setup phase?" he asks. "Or would I just get in the way, or don't have the knowledge?" he can bring books. He can bring several books. "If I make light conversation with you during setup is that a problem?" 

"There's nothing sensible you can help me with, yeah. It's not just you or anything, one of the big safety rules for ritualists is not accepting direct setup help from anyone who's not a ritualist because only ritualists and, like, maybe brain surgeons and rocket scientists, have the right attitude about making really sure that everything on the checklist actually happens as written and not slightly differently and no steps are getting skipped and no details are getting forgotten. And I'll probably be stashing you with the clothes while I set up, so we'll be in sight of each other but it'll be a little far to have a conversation, and I shouldn't let myself get distracted anyway."

"...okay. Bring a couple of books and my phone and make sure my phone is charged. Got it." (Also he is never going to be a ritualist, is he.) Down the list he goes. 

"...are the names of the um, categories important? Just curious. I realize that my behavior during all of the them is the same," being bored "I'm just curious what they mean and what they're for, if anything." 

"That's a ritual theory and design question! Um, mostly we name the phases of rituals as a mnemonic to help us remember what kinds of things go in that phase, but a lot of rituals have similar arrangements of phases to each other because they're structured similarly or doing similar things. Obviously most rituals don't end in The Gift, of course, but nearly all Blake rituals start with Lighting the Way, for example. Or did you want me to explain what those specific phases all mean?"

"I think it was a more general question," he says. "I liked the information I was told so far, I would also like it if you explained what the specific phrases meant. If you don't mind, that is." 

She perks up into Nerd Mode.

"Okay so! Lighting the Way means I'm - preparing and activating the ritual space, transforming it from a place where a ritual is going to happen to a place where a ritual is happening, and also sort of - symbolically marking out the path that the ritual will travel down? Embarking is the participants joining the ritual, becoming a part of it and its space. Calling Forth is where I start to involve actual magic in the process, building up power that will be transformed and organized over the course of the rest of the ritual. Gathering is preliminary organization of the power I started to build up in Calling Forth, and pulling in more of it on the foundation of what I've already got. Weaving is consolidating the power further and organizing it. The Precipice is preparing for the transition between 'a bunch of power called up and organized to a purpose' and 'a finalized ritual spell working as intended', and then The Gift enacts that transition."

Tiny excited nerd bounce.

"Fun fact—at least it's fun if you're a magic theory nerd—you could cut this ritual down to five phases but then it wouldn't be possible to easily switch which one was giving themselves away and which one was receiving between the caster and the other participant, and my ancestors looked at this ritual they were designing expressly for the purpose of consensually magically enslaving other people in delicate political situations and thought, 'I'm willing to put the work in, both now in designing it and later in casting it, to make this ritual more modular than it strictly needed to be for our purposes, just in case it's someday a good idea to do it the other way around'. I love my ancestors."

He has to play that last bit in his mind a few times before he quite gets what she's saying, but then he grins. "Well, aren't we lucky then," he says, still grinning. "I don't think I'd be able to pull this ritual off then. Thank you, Rosy's ancestors." He's still grinning. 

"I appreciate my ancestors and their needlessly overengineered rituals so much!"

He giggles and gives her a squeeze. (Also, it was cute earlier when she was describing all of her nerd stuff and he's still weirdly happy about that too.) 

And then it's more list again. Boredom, boredom, boredom and more boredom... "I think that's all I've got," he says, and kisses her on top of her head. And then looks at the sheet of paper. "I do need my lines, and other things, um... is it ok if I take this home with me? I'll be really careful with it like I am with your letter." (Folded up several times and stuffed underneath the pencil tray in the drawer in his desk at home. That's probably hopefully safe enough? Dad won't go through his room without asking, and Mom almost certainly won't, and won't look there anyways. Almost certainly.) 

"Absolutely! If you want a shorter version that just has the lines, I could write one out for you? But if you want to keep the checklist that's also fine. Or you could take pictures of both sides with your phone, if you want? You have many options."

Phone is almost certainly safer. He can do that. "Phone, probably, makes more sense," he says, pulling it out. He carefully takes a picture of both sides of the paper, and gives the notebook back to her. 

She kisses him on the cheek and then wiggles excitedly.

He grins, and checks his messages, while he has his phone out. And sighs. "Hey, Rosy," he says, "apparently my mom is almost certain that she has off tomorrow evening, and would very much like to meet you. Do you want to come to my house tomorrow instead of coming here?" He sighs again. "She really wants to meet you, and has been bugging me about it, and will not stop until she does meet you. And I'm sure we could keep putting it off, but... it will make things easier. Do you, um, want to? Could you? We could, um, do math instead of other things?" He does in fact want to do the other things, but... 

"I do like doing math with you. I like sucking your dick more, but my life would be impoverished if I replaced all the math with your penis. Sure, we can go to your place tomorrow."

He giggles. "I too, like it when you suck my dick. But I also do like math. I'll meet you at my locker again? That seems to work okay." He pauses. Should he ask... "Me dating you isn't going to cause any problems, um, politically, right? I think some people might have um, figured it out after today. And I guess you said you don't marry other magical families for magical genetics reasons so I guess it's not a problem but I just want to make sure there isn't anything dangerous I'm walking into? Or you, for that matter." 

"No dangers," she agrees, closing her notebook (and tucking the pen into the binding) and snuggling up.

He snuggles up with her too. It's cozy there. (Also he's snuggling a naked girl, by the way. A naked girl who is super into him and is literally going to give herself to him in a magical ritual. He's not sure how this happened (and he still has worried feelings about it) but it's really quite amazing.) 

"Right, I should start a checklist for after-school date nights," she says, sitting up and flipping open her notebook. "Contingency Tea!"

The page she starts the checklist on is opposite the list of sexy outfits; she glances down at it and sighs, "I still wish I could come up with a really good stripper pole narrative. I feel like it's out there!"

"Narrative as in fantasy?" he asks, trying to think of one himself.