"Oh my.  And here I am, about to walk into a massage parlor, this chronically pent up...  Regardless of whether it's permitted at the clinic, I half expect to fear for my so-called virtue afterwards!"

"Oh yeah, succubi are a treat. Probably the most successful of Lilith's Brood. And in my opinion, older societies without modern medicine might have had a point but now the only virtue in that is making getting rid of it as fun and filling- Ahem, fulfilling, as possible."

And boy oh boy is she incredibly flustered by that idea!

"I surely can't say I disagree!  Not that I've any practical experience with it, ah, heh..."

Smile.

...Wren hums thoughtfully.

"So... It's debatable if karma is real, but it's definitely true that one acquires a reputation. I like breaking in virgins, so to speak. Because I want to share the joys, to make them squirm and moan... But this is not necessarily the best thing for everyone, ne? You only get one first time, even if over-emphasizing it and worshiping it is unhealthy... Best to start off on the right foot? I know it sounds like I'm contradicting myself. But- If you'll have me as your guide, I think it'd be best to think and talk first. About what it would mean for each of us. And to take our time, either way. If after some consideration, you decide 'fuck it, do me'... Very well! You'll have thought about it, and decided."

The blush is incandescent, and the nod is firm.  She needs a minute to restart her words engine, but, "That seems like it would be a good idea.  Clear expectations.

"I wouldn't have sex with just anybody and everybody, I'm not quite that casual even when you peel the anxiety off of me, but, I think you're meaningfully already not just anybody if we've already shared an existential crisis.  And it's not like I'm coming into this completely blind, as was; I've not done anything physical with another before, but the theater of the mind allows for many sorts of performance, so, you know.  I have a few ideas of things that seem fun.

"And for what it's worth, I think you're not contradicting yourself by calling a first time special, because it is new - but discouraging the fixation on firsts that everyone promotes.  Obsession is bad, y'know?  And not liking obsessions doesn't make you a hypocrite for enjoying being part of something special.

"So, uh, if you're still as goshdarned pretty as you are right now, and you're still as interested as you are right now, then, after the clinic's done their thing perhaps it would be fun to go for a test drive?  Really, I'd say even before that is up for grabs, I just know I want to do something special to commemorate the occasion, and goodness knows I'm no party girl."

"Hmm... Yeah, I am very casual about it. Anyway, that doesn't sound bad. Indeed we're not strangers- I'm hoping for friends with benefits as a final equilibrium. More magical friends is rarely a bad thing. I'm not up to any major shenanigans right now, mostly just petty ones. Taking a temporary retirement from magical affairs, as much as one can. I will admit I'm a little partial to penises, personally, but delighting a new you would be fun too. Just so you're aware, they're going to have essence sinks. A device that you can push all your mana into, which measures it and stores it for later. A full-scale remodel, as it were, is probably going to take a week or two even if they let you go into mana debt for it instead of paying up front. It's hard to judge your natural mana output just from being near you, but based on your ward, you'll probably be paying it off for weeks to months. They'll know a lot more precisely than me, of course."

She nods.  "I have to admit I haven't yet quite decided whether that's staying or going.  Though, well, option value, hm?  I suppose we'll see what comes out of my body map.  Essence sinks...  Interesting.  I'm kinda wondering if there's also an effective throughput measure to go with the volume..."

"Well, flow equals size divided by time."

"Plus recovery during that time, though?  Though, true; I'll have to make a note for science purposes when I do see."

"Mmhm. Oh. If you want me to show off some magic tricks, you can willingly pass a bit of magic to me. I'm not a precision instrument but I could guess. Foxes like me have a lot of ways of absorbing mana, but none as efficient as a species entirely dedicated to one."

She holds out a pawhand.

Y'know, she would like that.  "Sure, I can do that if you'd like.  Seeing cool magic can only help me do more cool magic."

Now, how can she do this...

Well, first, she needs to have a good feeling of where her mana even is.  Her spiritual limbs are still a bit numb, metaphorically speaking.  But that doesn't mean that she can feel nothing.  It's a bit dim, but she can, still, feel.  And her ability to feel out spellforms is helpful, as well.

So it is with steady breathing and closed eyes that Alex's hand finds itself holding Wren's hand-paw, carefully feeding just a little bit of her mana reserve into the kitsune through this shared intimacy.  One percent.  One percent of that thrumming potential that overflows the bounds of her soul.  No more, no less.  If Wren needs more magic...  She'll ask.

Alex can feel Wren's existence nestled next to her own.

What she pushes to the surface might or might not be one percent... Actually, it's probably significantly less than one percent. It doesn't move all at once, but in a sluggish, restrained flow. There's barely a teeny tiny trickle. It's a little awkward to hold it to that level, like standing on one's toes.

The moment it reaches the surface of her skin, the energy vanishes from her awareness.

After fifteen or twenty seconds, Wren says, "You're giving me just a teensy bit, right? This is maybe... Two or three thaums a minute. Which is tiny."

"...Rassa...frassing...move, dammit, this is my magic it should do what I tell it --"

Fine.  If she can't be Ms. Nice Gal, if she can't coax the mana to the surface smoothly - then she will grab on and pull.

"Woah!"

This is a lot more sudden. It comes in a big chunk, with a sudden lurch and an uncomfortable feeling a bit like coughing. She can feel the mana outside of her for a few moments, until it slips away into Wren.

"Okay! That was a bunch more. Okay, finesse will come with practice. That was... I want to say a couple kay-thaum? What a succubus would call about one and a bit 'O'. Do you have a sense of how much of your reserve it was?"

...Does she?

Ehhh.  Maybe she does.  It wasn't a huge chunk but it wasn't a tiny piece either.

"I'd hazard definitely less than a tenth, probably less than a twentieth, but also definitely more than a hundredth.  It wasn't a huge chunk.

"...Can't fucking believe my mana sense needs glasses," she mutters.  "Though I guess I'm barely started."

"You've been aware of it, what, a day? Little baby sorcerer. Don't worry about it. Hrmm... So your total capacity is probably in the ballpark of twenty to sixty-ish 'O'? Rule of thumb is that you make three full tanks of mana a week... So sixty to two hundred a week. Probably above one hundred. Depending on the going rate for mana from your succubus clinic, that's anywhere from three weeks to twenty going on the extremes of my guess for prices - six hundred to twelve hundred - and your output, if you push all your magic into that and don't reserve any for yourself."

She nods, when she's done blushing.  "Beats 'like five entire years and then also major surgeries to potentially mixed results' to hell.  And that's assuming there's no low-hanging fruit on the mana accumulation front.  Like I mean I've gotta assume that people have, in fact, tried plenty of things, but I already found myself having thoughts about how one might use that geometric tattoo thing to create something useful."

"There's been a lot of work on the mana accumulation front. Long story short, intense emotions, and maintaining them for as long as possible while doing the magic. It boosts both ability to push out magic fast, and ability to generate more, especially since regen naturally goes up a bit when the tank's low. I would dare say thinking about how you're going to get the body of your dreams - and maybe have a lovely meetup later~ - would count."

"Mmhmm!  But I mean potentially affecting the base rate somehow.  Instead of the emotions multiplier.  So like, starting from the thingamajig..."

And now she has pulled out a pencil and a post-it, and started sketching.  "You frame the entire construction as a hexagon, because it is both grow-ing and emblematic of the growth you wish to encourage, and then you trisect it to make six stability triangles to support your hexagon of growth, and then you infix six squares of precision like so, creating more triangles, and then you have created another hexagon and you can re-utilize both the external and internal space - you put another layer of squares on the inside, which makes another hexagon, and another layer of triangles on the outside, so you have extra stability and more precision, and you can keep on with fractal triangle-square-triangles on the 'outer' segments..."

"I mean, am I missing something?

"Maybe even wrap the whole thing in a circle because of the infinite non-sidedness of it and whatnot, how every point is unique but indistinguishable..."

"...You're welcome to try it. I just predict a fat lot of nothing. Because nobody seems to know how to touch the ineffable thing that mana comes from. You could maybe get my meat-to-mana thing or dryads' sun-to-mana working? I'd think Lilith would have done tattoos, not monsters, if they worked... Now, is there a nice park or something I can make a big notice-me-not and show off in?"

"...Those gosh-darned ineffables.  At least I probably don't have to worry about some sort of Azathoth accumulation arms race..."

"And, yeah, I know a couple places we could go to for that."  There's a big empty space around the back of her apartment/house, if nothing else.

Wren pats Alex on the legs, her tail snaking under the table to do so, then quickly finishes her second round of ice cream and daintily wipes her muzzle with napkins.

"Hmm, so, conclusions... We go for a nice short walk right now. I'll show off a bit- I have shapeshifting, illusions, and fire as foundational concepts, but you can get moderately creative- And then I offer to be a reference for magic stuff, and to try and bail you out if you get yourself into trouble and call me, and wish you well on your body spa appointment?"