This Ascent to Divinity is Lewder Than Expected

7.39 – Explaining

After some gawking and a number of incredulous questions, Zoey conveyed to Maddy the basics of her life prior to being summoned by Ephy. She was surprised she'd passed over those details in the first place, but her initial explanations to Maddy had been hasty, and her past wasn't brought up often—or hardly ever. Which she preferred, seeing how much of it was a giant fuzzy spot. One that was becoming clearer over time, forgotten details slowly sieving back, but still more fuzzy than not.

"You know, that explains so much," Maddy groaned. "You talk like a scholar and a commoner at the same time. I noticed that our first lesson, do you remember me mentioning it? So, what, everyone's more educated where you're from?"

Zoey chose to not comment on being told she talked 'like a commoner', which was a pretty funny phrase to hear as someone from modern Earth. "Yeah, basically. Twelve years of formal education across several core subjects like math, science, and so on is the minimum. And some fields like medicine can be an extra decade on top of that."

Maddy leaned forward in interest, her gray eyes gleaming with fascination. "I don't even know where to start with my questions," she enthused. "A whole other world? I mean, conceptually speaking, other worlds are hardly that strange—well, they are, but, you know, not that strange—but for it to be confirmed? And to have someone who can answer questions about them?"

A bit wryly, Zoey thought that they wouldn't have to rely on small talk throughout their date. This was a topic that could take days to squeeze dry.

Before they got distracted, Zoey reminded her, "Date ideas first. Then you can ask me whatever you want."

"Oh. Right." Maddy sat back, ears turning slightly pink. "What's an 'ice rink' and a 'movie theater', though?" She shook her head. "Er, sorry. After. Hmm."

It didn't take long for Maddy to start spouting ideas. Zoey remembered from one of their first conversations, back when she'd pretty much just met her, Maddy had lots of sisters and liked to play matchmaker with them. She'd been the one to give her advice for how to handle her first date with Rosalie. So coming up with potential dates wasn't hard.

"I'm being a bit selfish," Maddy mused, "but I want something where we can walk around and talk. You can't drop something like that on me and not expect questions. So … the market's an obvious choice. Lots to see, there's variety, and there'll be food. I'm kinda hungry, since magic takes it out of me—I bet you too?" Zoey nodded; she could eat. Maddy continued, "More generally though, for dates? In a city the size of Mantle, there's for sure festivals or fairs going on somewhere, probably permanent ones, there's theaters, parks and gardens, we could go swimming, boat rides, and like a billion more specific things, depending on what you like. Horseback riding or wine tasting or whatever."

Huh. All of that had modern-day equivalents—if not identical equivalents—so maybe Zoey had been wrong about how different things were across their worlds. She could've suggested most herself.

"And your preferred choice is the market?" Zoey prompted.

"You did say you wanted to see more of the city, and the market is the beating heart, in some senses. Seems like a good choice for walking around and getting to know each other, too. Which I especially need to do, now that you told me you're from another world. You didn't think I'd glaze past it, did you?"

Funny enough, Rosalie and Delta kind of had. Not fully, since they'd both asked her plenty, but they hadn't drowned her in questions. Maybe because she had been, thanks to her memory loss, uncomfortable when the topic came up, and both of them were considerate of that fact.

The discomfort had faded over time, though. And Maddy, incredibly empathetic as she was, was much more of an academic, as mages tended to be. So her raw curiosity painted over her natural social sensitivity—which, to be fair, also made Zoey feel less awkward about the situation, so there were fewer signals to miss.

Mantle was such an enormous city that there was more than a single market, but they chose the largest and most well-known. Walking idly through the dense streets—it was midday, since they were ditching their normal training routine—Zoey and the highly fascinated illusionist chatted about everything and anything related to her world of origin.

Rosalie's and Delta's questions had been more about general topics, especially the military and economic functioning of the world. Maddy's tended scientific, which she couldn't say she was surprised by. Next to Sabina and Fe, Maddy was—for all her bubbly and cheerful attitude, which weren't traits Zoey would normally associate with a scientist—definitely the most academically-minded of the women she was entangled with. Magic took no small amount of poring over magic theory, after all, especially spell design.

Zoey had visited Treyhull's markets before, so Mantle's wasn't anything completely new, but it was still fascinating to walk through the bustling streets and admire the variety of goods on display. Their carriage had dropped them off on the edge of the market, the section composed of mostly stalls—there were more permanent establishments depending on which direction they walked—and all of the stands and their owners made their best efforts to draw her attention, as well as everyone else's.

Grocers, tailors, butchers, bakers, cobblers, potters, jewelers, metalworkers, the list went on. They were organized in rough districts, with categories like 'food' being mostly in the same area, but there was plenty of randomness too: stalls thrown up where there was space. It felt chaotic, at least by Zoey's modern sensibilities, but in a good way. There was so much chaos that Zoey and Maddy were easily lost in the crowd, and Maddy pelted question after question into her. Zoey happily yet distractedly answered all of them. (Distractedly, since she really was fascinated by the market, which Maddy didn't seem to be enjoying as much, probably because it was mundane to her. Or because she was that much more fascinated by a whole other world. Which was fair.)

Maddy came back to Earth—uh… the Fractures?—when they found a stand serving some variation of meat dumplings. Her date hadn't been kidding about being hungry, because she devoured half a dozen with impressive speed, breaking her usual good manners to continue asking questions while chewing. Zoey scarfed a number of them down too, because like Maddy said, magic training could be taxing, and so she'd worked up an appetite.

Though she had grown more comfortable talking about her previous life, she wouldn't say she was totally at ease. And Maddy's enthusiastic academic fascination eventually faded enough to pick up on that, not that Zoey had been trying to project it. The questions tapered off, and Maddy grabbed Zoey's arm, nestled in, and said, "Ah, shoot. I make fun of Ophelia and Venus for being lost causes," she muttered, "and here I am pestering you with a million questions about science during what should be a cute date. My bad."

"You aren't pestering," she said. "Couldn't if you tried. Just being around you is fun, no matter what we're doing. So it's fine, ask whatever you want." Processing the names Maddy had said, she said: "Ophelia? Venus? Those are your sisters, right?"

"You remember?"

"Of course. You have seven? And two brothers?" That tidbit was easy to remember, for obvious reasons: Zoey shivered at the idea. "I can't imagine having nine siblings." That was why it had stuck out.

Strangely, Maddy stopped in place, and seeing how she was holding onto Zoey's arm, Zoey did too. The smaller woman was looking up at her with an indecipherable look. It turned slowly into a smile.

"What?"

"Nothing," Maddy said. "But, you really do have a good memory, don't you?"

"Hardly."

"You remember all these random conversations from a month ago?"

"It was hardly a random conversation," Zoey said. "You were telling me about your family. Of course I'll remember that."

Slowly, a blush formed on Maddy's cheeks. She knew this girl was easy to make that happen, but what had prompted it? She was interrupted from wracking her brain by Maddy hastily tugging her forward to continue their trek through the market.

"I really am a lost cause," Maddy muttered. "Okay, I've asked you too much. Your turn. Total honesty."

"Total honesty?" Zoey asked, her tone taking a reflexively teasing lilt. "I can learn a lot with that kind of promise."

"Total honesty," Maddy repeated, voice not faltering. "Girlfriends should know things about each other, right? So ask."

Zoey could be clueless sometimes, but she didn't miss that. Maddy had called them 'girlfriends', and she doubted it had been a slip. She broke into a grin.

"They should," she agreed.

But what should she ask her girlfriend (she tried to play it cool how much that made her heart start hammering)? There was a lot she didn't know about Maddy, and tons she wanted to.