As much as watching her pick an outfit was tempting, he had other things to do. Such as using his new darkroom to process the photos he had just taken. Finally having a proper setup meant that he could use some better chemicals to process the photos faster.
Which meant, that before she picked her outfit, he finished processing the photos, which gave him a significant boost to his new biokinetic abilities. A good thing to have if she decided to use her powers for anything other than healing. His brief search showed that she had never used it … but it was better safe than sorry.
Dealing with an emotionally unstable cape while dangling her taboo desires with no plans to ever let her achieve them. Admittedly, it was less about their taboo nature, and more about just how badly they were mired in her self-loathing and her self-imposed rules.
It was hard to understand how to truly understand the feedback from his connection in such complicated topics, but he was getting the impression that her self-restraint was more of an unhealthy coping mechanism than anything, one that was arranged like a mid-game Jenga tower. Pull one, and everything might collapse.
No, he had to dangle that without ever giving it to her, hoping to replace it with safer sources of pleasure.
When he returned to the main studio, she was still looking for a new outfit. He would have assumed that she was killing time if it wasn't for her emotional responses, excitement, and anticipation growing more and more. She must have picked something really interesting.
Soon, he heard footsteps, and deliberately focused on his camera, not wanting to scare her off. Even with her closing in, he didn't look up, playing with his camera. "So, Amy, ready?" he asked without looking.
"More or less," she answered, doing her best to sound casual. She failed, spectacularly. Even without his power to observe her emotions in real time, he would have caught the distress in her tone. She was worried about his reaction.
He delayed looking at her, deliberately letting her feel the tension more.
Of course, Marcus knew that she couldn't care less about his approval. At the moment, Amy cared about no one's approval but Vicky's. She just wanted his opinion, desperately hoping that her outfit would change Vicky's mind.
He deliberately kept his gaze on his camera until she stood at the center of the room, anger and fear rising in equal measures. How cute, he thought. Only when he could feel her frustration growing to dangerous levels, he raised his gaze.
And, the moment he saw her, he decided that he was very lucky that he had already seen her naked body before, so he roughly knew what to expect. Without it, he could have never hidden a gasp of fascination.
Even with knowing what to expect, keeping himself to a measured response had been … challenging. Amy had decided to go as a sexy goth, something she managed to pull shockingly well.
She wore a corset and skirt combo, both black and she looked amazing while while putting her assets to the best use. The corset was tight enough that her tits needed one sharp move to spill out, while the tiny skirt had put her plump ass The fishnet stockings added to the aura as much as her makeup choice, dark purple and black.
She even changed her hair color by using the hair sprays he had purchased for that purpose, changing her drab brunette with black with purple tips.
He had to admit, it was smart. If he was actually trying to get Vicky into a naked photoshoot as he led her to believe, dressing like that would have been a good way for Vicky to disassociate her usual familiarity.
Too bad she only presented herself as an edgy toy for Marcus. No, he corrected himself. He was trying to help her … though, thinking that was hard with his body reacting to her incredible presence.
"Not bad," he said even as he let his gaze dance on her body, giving her just enough to maintain her sense of uncertainty about her success. He needed to keep her unbalanced even as he played with her.
"Y-you think so?" she asked.
"Yes. You carry the outfit well. Now, let's see if you have the necessary modeling instincts. Raise your arms," he said. With the assistance of his power, she modeled decently for his photos, though he deliberately kept the first set tame. Even with that, she was tense.
After all, she wore the outfit for Vicky, not him.
"Now, wait a moment," he said as he disappeared, leaving her with her insecurities as he processed the new photos in the dark room, once again glad for the professional equipment making things go much faster. Especially since he focused on developing the minimum to trigger another round of power enhancement.
"Do you want to see how you look," he asked as he stepped out, and passed the pictures. Her gasp was not shocking. "Is this me?" she asked.
"You have a talent for modeling. Too bad I can't afford to hire you with all the money you're making from healing," he commented offhandedly, which was partially true. "
"I don't get any money from healing!" she responded. Her tone wasn't angry, just sharp, but the sharp flash of loathing that followed scared him. It looked like he had stepped onto another landmine. Luckily, she was too distracted by the photos to notice it.
"A very noble choice," he said, but he took a note of it, wondering if he could somehow use it to his benefit another day. "Now, if you're not tired, let's start moving. I still have a lot of lighting setups I need to test."
With that, he started another set, though it was interesting how quickly she complied with his new set of orders, taking sexier poses even without his prompting. But, with the connection in place, it didn't take long for him to understand the reason. As he took her photos, he was sensing flickers of confidence.
She might have prepared it for Vicky, but seeing it work helped her sexy and alluring rather than mousy and drab worked wonders on her confidence.
Seeing that he was on the right path helped Marcus relax. However, he was surprised at just how quickly Amy had taken a more erotic pose in front of the camera. He didn't ask her or even use his power to suggest subtly, and she was already bending forward to reveal more of her creamy thighs. She was giving a side profile which reduced the impact, but that hardly made the pose PG.
He wasn't complaining.
"Excellent pose," he said. "Maybe we should extend the practice session into a real one, maybe with an additional model. Are you ready to work with a second one, even if the optics are a bit tricky?" he asked.
"Yes, always!" she gasped, accepting enthusiastically as she clearly assumed it to be about Vicky. However, he had a surprise for her. He set a remote controller for his camera — a simple gadget that he purchased for this exact purpose and walked toward her.
Her eyes widened as he spoke. "Let's see if the lights work correctly." He tried not to sound anything but calm and cynical, but it was hard. He was feeling excited, but not that. The others didn't know, but Amy probably had to destroy him completely with one touch. Or, at least, reveal his lies.
Which was why he wanted to experiment. Sooner or later, she would touch him. Having it under safe conditions was better. He wanted to see if he could trick her power with his variant, feeding her the wrong information.
He put his hand on her shoulder … and felt something. An intrusion to check the state of his body, one that he was able to somehow trick thanks to his power, feeding as he wanted. It was only possible because he had a direct connection to her emotions, feeling her flare of curiosity that warned him about her usage.
Even as it was an instinctual trick, he was aware that the only reason he succeeded was because Amy didn't know she was trying to compete against a fellow biotinker. If she knew, she would have focused more, and he couldn't have tricked her.
However, even as he was able to trick her about his feelings, picking the ideal response was a challenge. He couldn't be too calm and collected, as it wouldn't be conducive to his future moves. He couldn't be too enthusiastic, as that would just make her pull back, confident that she could keep him here until Vicky's arrival.
He needed to find a balance, but that wasn't as simple as it sounded.
"Let's see how you do with some interesting poses," he said even as he removed his belt, one that sent a jolt of panic through her until he wrapped it around his own throat and passed the end to Amy.
"W-what's this?" she gasped.
"You're the one that decided to dress as a goth mistress," he said. "Show me you can handle it, and I'll arrange a very interesting model for you to play with," he promised, knowing exactly what she would imagine.
Her incredible jolt of pleasure confirmed that his misdirect was successful.
Admittedly, he wasn't as happy with his position, but ultimately, giving her such an obvious representation of power didn't actually make her any more dangerous. How could such a thing make a young, troubled woman that could turn him into a house cat with a touch, or fill him with every disease imaginable?
"Let's start," she gasped even as she pulled the belt, cutting his breathing. Her excitement showed that his trick was successful.
Now, all he needed was to see if he could convince her to reverse the position by dangling Vicky's impending arrival.