Battle Vixens! - 88

First / Previous / Next / Latest

---

Episode 88: Mask On/Mask Off

About an hour after Amory's return, and not long before he was set to leave for his date, Blake leaned back in his computer chair and sighed. This should work. That was the hard part done, maybe...but not it was time to do the other hard part. He stood up and stretched, thinking a short break might help. How did one write something like ths? There weren't really any good precedents to draw on, as far as he knew. Maybe that unspoken speech which had been prepared in case the men who went to the moon didn't get back. No, that was completely different...

He'd had the news on the TV since getting up, just in case. And...this was supposed to be about the time for Ning's announcement alongside the VI. And—pushing his bedroom door open, he could see it going over to an interview. He went in long enough to turn on the volume.

"Uhh, hi. Yeah, I'm sure you noticed I look a li'l different." She put up a hand. "This..happened when I woke up from the coma the monster gave me. I dunno exactly why, but, I'm not really complaining either. I like this look better, honestly, and..maybe that's got somethin' to do with it. You'd have to ask them, though; they're still workin' on it. Anyway..."

Amory came out of his room, watching her talk for a moment. "Looks like it's..going well?"
"Yeah, go on ahead. I'll text you if things somehow go south," Blake said. "See ya."
"Bye!"

"...is 'cause, well...I'd like to tell you all my story. I mean: Much more than I was able to before. Um..that is, I want to make my secret identity...not so secret." This drew a burst of noise and questions from the reporters around, which Ning just waited patiently throughout.

After the door shut, Blake went back to his computer, stretched his fingers and went to typing. He decided that the first draft could just be whatever came to mind, and after that he could revise it as much as necessary.

The first draft begin: I sincerely hope you're not reading this, because if you are, I'm probably dead. If everything is working proprely, I've set up this message to go out if I don't log in at least once every twenty-four hours. I did that because I want you to know the truth. If you read this, and you know for a fact that I'm still alive, there was a mistake. I have to ask you to keep my secret, and I'm sorry for that. I'm even more sorry if I died, though. And if I did, then you can tell whoever you want. I don't care, I'm dead.

...Too blunt. Too casual. Blake shook his head, forcing himself to keep writing and at least get to the main point before he went back to edit things.

---

"Lemme just get to the point. My name is Gerald Nelson. Some of the folks around this town know me as the old man who runs a small-time grocery store down at.." She shook her head. "Well, I did anyway; that big worm tore things up pretty bad, and the utilities don't work now. I'll get into that later. But, you might also remember me from the news a couple of weeks ago. I'm the man whose granddaughter was kidnapped, and..I hope you can understand, I was pretty desperate to get her back..."

Simon watched from one side of the stage, along with the group from the VI's PR department tasked with making sure this interview went smoothly. He just shook his head and grinned; they'd never really had anything to worry about. This girl—or maybe woman was the better word—was a natural. If Mr. Nelson had never done public speaking before, then perhaps the empowered body's personality shift was supplying some of that confidence.

"...no involvement whatsoever. In fact, she helped me see how dumb that plan was. Then she helped me rescue my granddaughter. I didn't feel safe telling the whole truth right then, for a number of reasons...yes?"

"Sorry, this is a little off topic but—I've been wondering..."

---

"Aww, what the heck?" Thad glared at the TV screen with his arms crossed. "So like, they can just grow suddenly like that?"
"I dunno, maybe this is some kinda special case," Marcus said. He really wanted to be surprised that this was his roommate's reaction, but he was only mildly disappointed instead. He also felt an inexplicable compulsion to console him about it all the same. "Hey, uh..at least she's like, eighty-something, too. So, not really..in our age group or anything in the first place."
"Yeeaah, I guess so..."

Ning giggled softly; it was hard for Marcus to see how that wasn't still extremely cute. "Yes, the pun is intentional. And, totally my idea. I mean—Light was Light before we met, but I was just..a girl with lightning powers, my real name notwithstanding. Anyway, like I was saying. I knew—I know that I committed a crime, stupidly and ultimately for no good reason. It don't matter that I meant to give the money back, or whatever. Under normal circumstances...I dunno. I wouldn't have been able to do it, for one thing, but I would've still been just as desperate to save her. Maybe I wouldn't have survived whatever I would've done. And..admitting to it sooner than this, could've meant losing her." Her ears sank. "We're..both the only family the other has left, you know."

"What do you think?" Marcus said, redirecting the conversation a bit. "If you woke up with wicked lightning powers, would you go short out a bank's security system and magneto the vault open?"

"Pssh, totally. I'd empty 'em out. They got the FDIC and stuff, right?"

"I'm..not completely sure that's what that's for," he said, shaking his head.

"All I know is, money don't disappear from anyone's account just 'cause some dude swiped a buncha cash," he said. "It's basically like stealing from nobody. I mean, she coulda gone from some cash registers or somethin' and screwed some people over real bad instead..."

---

"Anyway, I'm very sorry about my actions that day. If anyone was harmed by them, I would like to do what I can to make it up—understanding that, that really isn't a lot. I'm not exactly rich or anything."

Hugo came up behind the couch Dawn and Cynth were on, putting a hand on the backrest. "You kids watching the news again?"
"Ain't much else to do," the redhead said, turning her head up to him from on top Dawn.

"Bah. You oughta ask for some books or something. Or at least tune cartoons sometime. 24-7 news is..fine lately, but typically a pretty good way to rot your brain."

Dawn wasn't really listening, to this instead just watching the interview as it played out. "I hope you'll understand if I don't want to give too many details," Ning was saying. "Not that I expect folks won't figure it out anyway, but at least I think this makes it clearer we'd like a bit of privacy. Like I said, she's my only family, and I mean to raise her right..."

"Think I fought with her once," the dark-haired vixen said finally, which made both of them look at her. "I mean—on the same side. Against one of the black monster things. Not too sure when it happened exactly, though?"

"Well, that's gotta be a matter of public record," Hugo said. "Just google your name and hers."

"...Do what?"
Hugo crossed her arms, looking down at both of their blank expressions with something like annoyed shock.

"Did nobody 'remind' you two how to use a computer!? Does Warp not know, either? No wonder all you're doing is lazing around or..whatever it is she does. C'mere!" She waved aggressively, turning to lead them off somewhere. After exchanging a brief glance, the two of them got up to follow her.

"...Right, gettin' back to that. I'm gonna need to move my store elsewhere. Since that whole area needs some serious repair now anyway, some anonymous party offered to buy it from the owners at better than market price. I dunno much about it, but I guess they've got some sorta plan for it. That means I've gotta move out, so I'm having somethin' of a fire sale later today. Just be real careful around the uneven pavement if you come, and remember that I'm sellin' food, not autographs or pics, 'kay?"

---

Ezekiel was up bright and early, and for once he was able to go straight to his "real" job at the VI's research department. Of course, his older colleague still put him to shame by already being at the front door by the time he drove up. Dr. Brand just nodded curtly toward his car and strode inside, letting Dr. Bridges open the door himself a moment later and follow through the hallways as the lights were turned on one-by-one by the theoretical physicist's hands.

The sound of footsteps ahead stopped abruptly at about the time he reached the back hall housing their offices. "Ezekiel!" He sped up to turn a corner and found Dr. Brand pointing at a sticky note affixed to his door. "Did you write this?"

"Nnoo..and it wasn't there when I left last night. Very strange." He leaned in to read it, adjusting his glasses. "Don't think I recognize the handwriting, either."

What is a hat?
What is a mask?
What is a man!?

Dr. Brand's arms were crossed and he had on the scowl that was the closest his face went to expressing worry. "This had better not be some manner of prank."

"Personally, I would be relieved if it were," Dr. Bridges said, leaning back to upright again. "And I'm tempted to reply, 'a miserable pile of secrets'...but I know that isn't very helpful."
Dr. Brand gave him a confused look for a moment, finally saying: "..What?"

"Err, never mind. We could have this note swept for prints or something..."

The older researcher paused for a moment, before jolting slightly in realization and turning toward him. "The masks! Were they left in my office last night?"
"..Yes," Ezekiel nodded. His colleague already had his key out, turning it to unlock the door (proving that it was still locked) and then pushing it to enter. The door seemed oddly stiff for a second, until Dr. Brand shoved it impatiently and burst his way inside on the resulting momentum. It took about that long for him to notice some motion in the upper doorframe. "Hey, wait—" Dr. Bridges put out his hand to try and pull his colleague back, but he was too far behind him to reach him before something white popped out from being wedged in the doorframe and managed to land itself directly on top of his head.

"Ow—what—?" It was one of their masks, white with mostly-black decoration; Ezekiel recognized it as one of the last he'd checked on the night before. Dr. Brand was reaching a hand up to remove it from the top of his head, but at the same time it slid itself down onto his face; it was difficult to tell if this was normal physics or if it was actually moving itself. Either way, by the time his hand was as far up as his face, it was already on top of it, and—more importantly—his body had a faint white glow around it, indicating some sort of magic at work.

"Mn—grrfh—" First with one hand, then both, he attempted to pull it off of his face, but it appeared to be stuck. The glow brightened steadily and then finally culminated in something of a flash—yet, not a blinding enough one that Dr. Bridges couldn't see what happened during it. The older researcher's hair shifted all at once, the dark part of the gray seeming to drip down to the very tips, turning them black and leaving the rest white, then those tips streaming out and down as his hair instantly grew out to nearly waist length. The rest of his body quickly shrank two feet or more downward, his clothes rearranging into a sort of kimono top, shorts, and leggings as it kept close to his increasingly slight frame. A muffled "Mnrrgh!" came out in a high soprano voice as Dr. Brand's ears grew into big white triangles, and a predictable huge, fluffy white tail with a black tip spread out behind..her.

Her hands popped off of the mask, and it immediately pulled itself over to the left side of her head (below the ear), growing a string up around her head to keep itself in place. Finally, a line of white light and a line of shadow-like black appeared behind her back, each one resolving at the same time to a katana within a sheath of the same color which was affixed to her back.

The short fox-girl let out a long, slow sigh, and turned around. Her face looked young and cute, with bright golden eyes and an uncertain but faintly annoyed expression. "Are you all right?" Ezekiel asked her first, as she put a hand up toward the hilt of one of the swords to trace her fingers across it.

"I'm..unharmed. Though—unintentionally testing my own research...I was really hoping this sort of thing would happen far later." She dropped the hand, closing her eyes, and seemed to succeed in dismissing the swords in a similar effect to their creation before opening them again. "It was a prank, but not by a human, I think."

"Not human?" She turned quickly to turn on the light and walk into the room, assessing its state, and Dr. Bridges followed. Aside from that one mask having been wedged into the doorframe, it looked like nothing else had been disturbed.

"The Giver."

She turned around to face him again. "How she got in here is irrelevant I suppose, but I believe the note was a hint—given in her usual, irritatingly capricious way. A hat is adornment for the head, and shelter from sunlight. A mask—" she tapped the one which had changed her, "—covers the face and obscures one's identity. A man.." she shook her head. "I'm reasonably certain she left that as a joke for you, so you wouldn't feel left out."

"I don't know whether or not I ought to be grateful for that," Ezekiel said, following her again as she whirled to go pick up one of the masks from the stack, staring at it. The yellow coloration of her eyes seemed to glow faintly, and continued to do so as she turned her head down toward the rest of the stack.

"I can see it. Every one of these masks is a viable key, including the broken ones—if the pieces are matched and placed on someone's face together. Our scan was returning the opposite of the truth because they are masks, and so they disguise themselves." She turned back up to look at him, and the glow disappeared.

"Rings."

He didn't follow his colleague quite as well as usual on this one, and so had to ask: "...Rings?"

She set the mask down on her desk. "We should be making rings, bracelets, gloves..anything for the hand. Your head, your face, is what you look like, who others see you as. You perform actions. With your hands. Therefore, if we want to avoid this kind of side effect," (she swept a hand to indicate her appearance) "we should be applying the methods which consistently made keys of these masks to instead produce those sorts of keys."

"You said you could 'see it' a moment ago?" Dr. Bridges said while his colleague carefully pulled the mask back around her face. This succeeded in quickly shifting her back to human form, and he breathed no small sigh of relief.

"Yes," he nodded. "I was.." He shook his head. "When I glanced at them, it was as if I immediately knew the results of our usual tests, and much more. The information simply entered my head unbidden. It ought to be overwhelming, but it isn't."

"And you feel it's trustworthy, too?"
"It must be. It's only a stronger, more immediate form of the methods we were already using, so it can be trusted at least as much as them." He didn't sound terribly pleased to say so; if anything, he seemed annoyed.

"Well—that's good news, then, isn't it?" Dr. Bridges said. "You have access to..magic-scan-vision, essentially?"

His colleague sighed. "Imagine if you could look at water and know what was dissolved in it instantly. You tell someone there is ammonium chloride in some particular glass, and they ask how you know, and you say 'I can just see it'." He shook his head. "Useless for rigorous inquiry."

"I mean...certainly, it's no use for testing your observations, but it's very good for making them," Ezekiel replied. "If we develop tests that should be better, you could help verify they work—or, if we have tests otherwise verified, that could be used to double-check that your vision 'works'. Additionally—if we get the help of a certain two-bodied vixen, she might also be able to help verify your observations."

The old researcher crossed his arms, looking annoyed, but eventually sighed again. "...True enough. I just..dislike the idea of being 'given' this, especially by her."

"I'm reasonably sure she doesn't help anyone who doesn't want help," Dr. Bridges replied gently, adjusting his glasses. "You know you can't have it both ways."
He looked between his younger colleague and the white fox mask still in his hand, lifting the latter up to eye level again. "...You're right. Her methods and personality are what I find most irritating of all." Then he put it on, shifting to a short, mostly-white-haired vixen once again. "We should check what else I can do."

"Well, it seems that did come with swords," Ezekiel observed. "Does anything besides scan-vision immediately occur to you?"

She made one of the sheathed katanas—with a white hilt and sheath—appear in her outstretched hands, looking at it for a moment. "This feels unaccountably familiar, as if I know how to use it. But not like this..." Taking the hilt in her right hand, the rest vanished, and the other one—whose sheath and hilt were pitch black—appeared through a line of shadow in her left; then she moved both into a ready-looking stance. "...This feels more natural. Although I have never held a sword before in my life. And..." She looked around for a moment. "There is not much room here to work with. Step back."

"Got it," Ezekiel took a couple of steps backwards, and then kept going as she gestured with one of the swords to do so until he was nearly in the doorframe. Then she turned toward the emptiest part of the office and swept both swords in quick succession—the white then the black—in an X shape that seemed to leave a trail of each color hanging in the air. From the place the two trails crossed the air—or maybe the space—seemed to curl open like a piece of paper which had been cut this way, and she tensed for a second before jumping through. Dr. Bridges heard feet softly landing behind him, and turned to see a similar 'seam in the air' closing behind her as she briefly flourished the blades before placing them into their sheathes—which were now hanging off of her back again. "That may be the extent of it," she said. "I can't think of much else."

"Well, it's essentially teleportation, I suppose?" Ezekiel said, moving out of her way as she strode back into her office. "Looks like you could toss things or have people go through those portals. Factor in that you can probably use those swords rather effectively, and it's not too bad overall, if it came to a fight. Although I assume—"
"I have no intentions of fighting myself," she said, nodding. "Apart from self-defense, or if things become particularly desperate. We already have one of us playing superhero instead of dedicating all time to research...not that I fault you for it."
"I'm grateful for that," he said. "Anyway—we have a lot of other work to get to today."

The "Best" RPG Ever-109

 First / Previous / Next / Latest

---

Just as before, the teleportation felt like a blinding flash which replaced their previous surroundings with new ones—although Katherine could swear this one took just slightly longer to clear away. Once they could see, the group found themselves standing before a covered wagon not unlike the ones seen in old westerns—or, indeed, those associated with the Oregon Trial. Its opening was facing them, and a large, faintly glowing blue crystal was partially visible inside. As they quickly looked around to get their bearings, they spotted another five such wagons scattered around nearby, the six of them connected together in pairs, and in the opposite of the direction they had been facing—a group of people initially sitting in an outward-facing circle.

An average-height, slightly thin man was at the front of this group, just ending the process of standing up. He had shoulder-length brown hair, an especially fair and handsome face, and was wearing clothing that appeared somewhat ornate—favoring gold in color with some purple trim—yet also seemed lightweight and not impractical to move quickly in. He also had a very slim sword with a circular guard fastened to his right side—some sort of foil. Three men behind him were mostly covered in armor and didn't seem particularly remarkable; at any rate, all of them seemed to be humans, and they appeared to have taken this long to recover from whatever teleportation looked like to those at the destination..which was possibly a bright flash, considering.

"Ah! Greetings," the obvious noble said, his face settling into an easygoing, friendly and utterly trustworthy-seeming smile. "You must be the group Lady Ezra sent to me about."
"That would be right, your highness," Zack said, gently weaving his way to the front of the group (he'd been at the front before, but now they were facing the former direction of their backs). Let him introduce himself first. It was less of an instruction to everyone else, and more reminding himself of the proper courtesy protocol.

"She did not mention that you were all such charming ladies," he said smoothly, "but I can see where that might not have been a priority. I am Peregrine Bertrand Lyxeris," he continued, bowing at a shallow angle, "but you may call me 'Perry' if time is short, or you forget the rest." There was a hint of humor to his tone at this last part, a suggestion that 'forgetting the rest' was extremely permissible.

"I am Zack," the knight replied after a short pause, bowing much deeper—almost to a ninety-degree angle—before coming upright again. "A knight. My companions are—" (he moved slightly aside to give a clear view of all of them) "—Katherine, a psion; Clera, an Empath; Lynn, an archer with some command of magic; and Rayna, an illusionist." Lynn and Kath's attire didn't allow them to curtsy (not that Lynn actually knew how), so they just imitated Zack when introduced; Clera and Rayna had no trouble at all with said gesture.

"Pleased to make all of your acquaintance," the prince nodded; he gestured behind himself at the soldiers. "My present company are Isarac, Morris, and Karl," he said, gesturing to each in turn. "These men have saved my life a few times on this journey so far."

"Only our duty, highness," Karl said.

"Excuse my interruption, your highness," Clera said, stepping forward slightly. "But we were told you had some wounded? I am eager to see to them as soon as possible."
"Oh, but of course," Peregrine nodded. "Morris?"
"Sire." He gave a brief salute, and gestured her to follow him to one of the wagons.

As they left, Zack gestured to one side, toward the crates that had been teleported with them. "Lady Ezra" (he echoed the prince's titling of her) "sent some supplies with us, your highness."
"Ah, yes, I ought to take stock of these," he said, going over and squatting slightly to get a closer look. "Generous and carefully organized, just as I would expect from her." Peregrine picked up the top of one stack. "Ah—here, I can show you where these rations belong. Isarac, Morris—get started on the medical and repair supplies, would you please?"
"Sire," both of them replied in chorus.

Zack picked up a few more of the crates below the one the prince had taken, following him; Rayna took what looked to her like the lightest one, and Lynn took a stack of two from below that. Katherine picked up the end of one crate of food in each hand—actually using her power to get the other half of the weight of each and make them stay balanced.

Whoo, this guy is charming, Rayna thought. I'd say 'I thought I had high charisma', but I've seen Ezra's. His other stats are..middling to low, I guess. Better than any of those soldiers in agility, which is a bit sad.

I think being around us might have distorted your sense of 'normal', the psion replied. There's plenty of non-combatants around town with worse raw numbers than any of these guys, right? Anyway, numbers are never everything.

Once he'd dropped off his first load, Peregrine went back for more. He paused for a second, watching the way Katherine was carrying her crates and tilting his head just slightly. "Telekinesis, I presume?"
"Right. I'm not very strong, physically speaking," she said. Not that she was actually trying to read it, but his mind felt fuzzy. Or..hazy even, in a somewhat familiar way.

"Still quite impressive to see in person. I have always felt Bimorphaeus's gift should be treated with the same respect as Haestra's, myself."

"I know a priestess of Haestra," she said, following him back to their teleportation target. "I'm not sure I would willingly trade my upbringing for hers." It had to be yet another 'flavor' of mental defenses that she was unfamiliar with. Well—it would make sense for anyone who expected to be politically active to learn some of those, and it wasn't like she'd had many opportunities to meet nobility directly within her 'backstory'. On the other hand, none of the soldiers seemed to have any mental barriers at all.

Peregrine moved on to make conversation with the knight, who was already on his third trip by now. "Zack is a somewhat unusual name for a woman," he commented.
"It's a family name," the knight replied, "passed down from my uncle." Katherine could see that this was technically true, at least as his backstory in this world went.

"Well, I can see that its sharpness fits your strength. Would you prefer that we call you 'Lady Zack', or something else..?"
"Whatever you like, your highness." He maintained a kind of stonefaced expression that was courteous, but not overly friendly. This overall presentation toward a high-ranking noble was something drilled into him long ago, and effortlessly hid any annoyance he felt at being thought of or looked at as female by the prince.
"Ah, well, 'Lady Zack' it is, then. Unless it's urgent." He nodded seemingly to himself and gracefully heading off after dropping off his second load—presumably to speak to the others.

Lynn gave the fox-girl a look as they passed. You can carry more than that, can't you?

Sorry, but some things never change. I...still haven't really started that exercise regimen.

No, I mean—can't you just buff your strength a bit?

Oh, right. Well, in that case I'm...conserving my energy. Lots of making-the-carvan-invisible to do, I bet.

"An archer and an illusionist.." Peregrine's voice nearly startled Lynn enough to drop the crates she'd just lifted, and he hurried to lean forward and put out a hand to catch them. "Oh—my deepest apologies."
"It's okay, I really should be more alert than that." Thanks a lot for the warning, fox-ears. Rayna replied with the mental equivalent of sticking out her tongue for a second.

Seeing that she still had her load, he stood upright again and took another crate to follow her with. "It's just—did you two ever work as traveling performers?"

"Yes, until quite recently in fact."

"And, do you recall visiting Kyzerath once or twice?"

"I..believe so, yes," she said, thinking back. That was a royal capital of a human-dominated country, wasn't it?
"One of my nephews snuck out of the palace to see one of your shows, I think. Small world.

"And...Lady Zack said that you practiced some magic?"
"Only very recently, and just amateur stuff. Mostly enchanting my arrows elementally to make them more effective against the monsters around here."
"Indeed? It's quite impressive to first pick up spellcasting as an adult, I'm told, especially without formal training."

"Do you know any magic, your highness?"
"A few low-level defensive spells were drilled into me at a young age," he said. "I haven't the talent for it, or I may well have been shipped off to a mages' college."

He caught up to the fox-girl on her way back to the crates—which wasn't very hard, as she wasn't moving very fast. "..Ah, Miss Rayna. Forgive me if this is an intrusion, but..I believe I spotted a faint glow to your eyes once or twice. It is difficult to be certain in this sunlight, but..do you possess the Sight?"
"I do," she said. "I didn't really know that was what it was until fairly recently, though, so I have much more experience casting illusions than piercing them."

"Well—please do not hesitate to mention anything useful it shows you, even if it is somewhat difficult to explain how you know it. Some say the Sight is Sophol's gift, but he never has admitted to it."

"I'll do just that, your highness," she said with a grin, setting down her burden again. "You know, in absence of a psion, there's no telling just how different one person's perception of the world really is from another's. You and I might agree that the sky is blue, but we may be perceiving entirely different colors all the same."

"Hm..that is interesting to consider," Peregrine said. "Another reason they ought to be more respected, I suppose. Excuse me, please." Nodding politely to her, he continued off toward the wagon he'd sent Clera toward.

What do you think he's doing? Trying to endear himself to everyone? Lynn thought 'toward' Rayna.

The fox-girl replied, I have the impression that he wants to build some level of trust before we all start fighting monsters together. Getting a more detailed idea of our abilities may also be a goal here. He is extremely perceptive, by the way.

Clera took a long, sharp breath as she pulled out another soldier's wounds. As promised, nothing here was life-threatening, but there were cuts, bruises, and breaks alike to worry about. She had taken a second to assess their injuries and then begun with the most severe, so at least each one hurt less than the previous. She came to the fourth now, a dark-haired woman named Nils with "only" a horrific cut on her leg. It missed the mark of being properly dressed by a relatively small margin; there was some risk of infection like this. Correct that, and she probably could just ride for a day and heal enough naturally to walk again, but..the winged girl saw no good reason to make her suffer, nor to have them down one fighter if monsters came.

Mostly through regenerating the previous wound, she placed her hands gently on the bandages. Her patient breathed a sigh of relief, and Clera gritted her teeth and kept silent against the pain. "Gods, that feels amazin'," she said. "Why can't all healers be Empaths?"

"There would be far too few of us," Clera said. "Why were you not sent with one in the first place?"
"No one would risk the trip," another of the soldiers said. "Prince Perry only got the seven worst in the army what aren't fit for court martialin'." The other three expressed immediate disagreement with this. "Come now, you all know it's true!"

"You have served admirably, all the same." The prince climbed into the wagon, and the four soldiers quickly went to salute him more or less in unison.

"Sire!"

"How are they?" he asked, toward Clera.
"Their wounds are gone," she said. "Some rest, and they should be perfectly healthy. Have you or the other three sustained any injuries?"

"Not more than scratches on their armor," he said, shaking his head and gesturing for her to follow him back outside.

Once they were standing a few feet off, he stopped and turned toward her. "An Empath must experience every wound she heals, right?"
"That is correct, your highness."
"Why would you offer to heal anything trivial, then?"

"Even small injuries cause pain, and—more to the point—can become worse if left untreated. If it bleeds, it can get infected.

"...I should inform you of this so that you are not caught by surprise if it becomes relevant: I had some formal training as a mage before I became an Empath. My talent is primarily in fire magic, and I still use it to defend myself or others when necessary."
He tilted his head just slightly. "I have never heard of the likes of that before. Most Empaths are healers beforehand, or else mostly magicless. Nonetheless, I appreciate the warning; I'm certain we will be nothing but grateful if you use that power against our attackers."
She nodded. "I have also..trained myself in some non-magical methods to help bodies heal themselves. Bandages, splints, or sewing a wound back together...the sorts of things one without access to healing magic would need to resort to."

"You seem to possess much knowledge, miss Clera," he said cheerfully, starting to move and subtly lead her back toward the center of their makeshift camp. "Yet you still have quite a kind heart, from what I can see."

She kept a more or less passive expression against this praise. "Half-avian lifespans can vary greatly, your highness. I am much older than I appear to be."

"I see. We will have to respect your wisdom, then, if it comes to it," he replied smoothly. "On that note, I believe you said the four in the sick wagon may require some rest to be back to full?"
"Correct. Being injured is taxing, and I cannot take another's exhaustion. However, that would not prevent us from moving forward; they can rest just as well in a moving wagon as an unmoving one."

"Just what I was thinking," he nodded.

Everyone was back in the center with them before long. Peregrine said, "Unless it is against the judgement of you experienced adventurers, I believe it would be best to reconvene our caravan and get moving again as soon as possible."
"I would recommend the same, your highness," Zack said. "The longer we stay in one place, the easier it is for something big to notice us."
"Indeed. Let us continue, then." He and the three soldiers led the way in reattaching the wagons to a group of horses and lining them up to head out.

As they neared the end of their preparations, Rayna looked at the road ahead, and then slowly turned around. Encounter probability...in the nineties if not one hundred percent, in every direction. That can't be right, can it?

I think it is, and I think I know why, Katherine replied. Let me explain it aloud.

"Your highness," she said, approaching him. "Goblins are very tenacious monsters, and fairly intelligent. I don't imagine you killed very many of those which attacked you before?"
"Not one of them," he said, shaking his head. "We narrowly succeeded in injuring and driving them away. You think they will be back?"

"Most likely," the catgirl nodded. "Once a group of them is after something, they tend to keep at it until either they die or their target goes down."

"Lady Ezra likely had the same idea; it would explain her insistence on sending along some experts. How should we handle them?" He wasn't looking at her alone for this advice, but the rest of the five adventurers as well.

"I can make us invisible and inaudible to them," Rayna said, "but not indefinitely. A better idea would be for me to also put a 'fake caravan' ahead of us for them to attack so we can ambush them."
"If we can kill the majority, or preferably all of them, we won't need to worry about them anymore," Zack agreed.

"That seems like a wise plan," Peregrine said, nodding. "Very well. Ah, but Miss Clera, would you mind scouting our surroundings? If they are already nearby, then..."

Clera nodded, taking off into the air just above them and making a brief, tight circle to look around. After landing, she said, "The road ahead looks clear for the moment. No sign of goblins, nor any other monsters or obstructions. Plenty of places for them to be lying in wait in our path, however."

"Good, good. Let us be on our way, then."

Isarac, Karl and Morris drove the wagons, guiding the animals along the path. The prince and the five adventurers flanked either side of the caravan, Rayna toward the very front so she could more easily concentrate to maintain her illusions.

Katherine moved up next to Prince Perry for a moment. "Your highness. Do you have any idea of their numbers when they attacked before?"
"Hmm. There was much confusion, but not more than ten, I think," he said.

She nodded, distributing this information to any of the others who hadn't heard it. "As far as the actual battle with the goblin goes...you could remain back with the actual caravan, if you wish."

"I shall, if the soldiers who were injured in the last battle have yet to recuperate by then," he said. "Someone must keep them away from the draft animals and supplies. When they are well, however, I would prefer to take the front lines rather than hiding behind others." He 'thought', unhidden by his mental defenses in a way which made it clear he meant her to hear: If I am being cruelly honest, my martial skills are somewhat better than theirs. I believe I shall not be a burden to you; but if I prove to be one, I swear I will stay out of future battles for the remainder of the journey.

"Very well," she said, nodding.

The "Best" RPG Ever-108

 First / Previous / Next / Latest

---

Vae was terribly difficult to read. She would just stand quietly still, not even her tail moving much, as Rose talked about this or that plant, and occasionally nod or ask questions. Actually, she seemed aware that she was difficult to read, as she appeared to make an effort to periodically thank her, comment with what she knew of the specimen, say something approving, or ask clarifying questions—but all in the same quiet, netural monotone. If anything, this was curiously reassuring to Rose; she wasn't the best at reading social signals from most people, after all, so someone actively trying to help her out was...really kind of nice.

Maybe half an hour into their slow, meandering walk through the forest, a particular tree caught the Vulpin girl's eye. Her ears both twitched slightly when she noticed it, and she made something of a beeline for it, walking marginally faster than usual and ignoring everything else until she could get near enough to inspect it more closely. After a moment, she said, "This species is notoriously difficult to raise...and it can take decades to mature enough to be self-sufficient. I have never seen a live one in person before."
"Yeah, it was super finicky for a while," the dragon-girl said, fidgeting her hands together. "But um, I had plenty of time to take care of everything, and...not really much else to do."

Vae turned her head toward Rose and fixed her with a look for a couple of seconds—which, as usual, just seemed unreadably neutral to her. "I understand that you were only recently..introduced to our town."

"Yep! Uhhm, what happened was that some dumb bandits thought it'd be a good idea to kidnap Nora and take her to my forest. And then her friends came along to help her."

"How long..were you here, before that happened?"
"Hmn?" The dragon-girl headtilted, thinking back. "I dunno, exactly. Several centuries, at least. There were no towns around the area when I first got here, I can tell you that."

Vaedin's left ear twitched. "..If you'll excuse this sort of conjecture..you do not seem to be the kind of person who enjoys being alone, much less for such a long period of time."
"Oh. Well, um, I'm not. Buut.." Rose frowned. She knew what had happened, more or less, but still couldn't really bring up any specific memories. All there seemed to be was a tangle of half-formed emotions from long ago.
"Have I..overstepped in my questioning? I am sorry, if so."
"No, no. Just. I can't actually remember it, for myself. It's so long ago it's all muddled for me. Buuut...

"You um, wanna take a seat for a bit?" she offered. "I can make a stool or something."

"I will be fine on the ground," Vae assured her. So they both sat down, the fox-girl cross-legged and Rose with her legs laid out to one side.

"So like, I think I know what happened, but only 'cause Captain Ezra told Katherine, who told Mira, who told me. But even then, it's some legend that's just probably about me; there's no telling if it's exactly right. It just...sounds kinda right to me, though?"

"I understand," Vaedin nodded. "Go on."
Rose began explaining her 'backstory', as best as she could.

---

The guard at the front desk pointed at the sketch of the lizard on the paper. "You ever fought these things before?"
The party of four exchanged a glance for a moment, and then Mira said: "Nope."
"Well, I'll tell ya, they're the worst of what reptiles can be. Slippery, slimy, fast, venemous fangs like a snake," he pointed to his own (feline) fangs. "They love to sneak up, bite someone, and then run away before the rest of the group can retaliate. Did that to the team that discovered this bunch; luckily, they're not well-acquainted with the uses of armor, and couldn't get them teeth through plate mail."

"We'll remain alert," Nora assured him. "Lupa's senses are better than most."
"Yes!" the wolf-girl affirmed confidently.
"Sure, sure. Just letting you know what to look out for." He stamped the request and handed them a map with the last known location of their mark clearly indicated.

---

"...aand, I wound up like this. I can't exactly remember, but I think even though the..'being a girl' part was accidental, I was still happy. I'm..I actually like how I am a lot now, so it's like, whatever. But...the people didn't recognize me as 'me'. They didn't even see me as a nice stranger! Just..a monster to be scared of, and then to...attack. So I left.

"I dunno if I was bitter, or just scared to ever try again, after being rejected that hard by the people who I'd thought liked me. I'm...sure I felt like nobody had ever liked me, even before—they were just pretending to 'cause I was so helpful to them." She looked down for a second. "I would've...been okay with even that, I think. But I didn't..and still don't, know how to turn back, and I don't really want to. I'm not sure I really 'decided' to exile myself here and stay alone for so long..as much as I just, felt like I didn't have any other choice.

"Once I'd already been alone here for a while, I just sorta got lost in my routine. Like, the only things I thought about were the plants—how to take care of this or grow that—and food, hunting for meat to pretty much swallow whole. It was like this...haze, where the decades went by like hours. I didn't do anything at all to mark the time; it just wasn't important for me to know. That's why..I have no idea how long it's really been."

Vae nodded slowly. "Tempted as I am to compare your experience to my own, I find that the way I have consistently buried myself in research since not long after adulthood pales by some orders of magnitude. Besides which..I did so because it made me happy, and being 'social' did not. I have always felt I had little in common with people who were not my academic peers."

Rose shrugged. "It feels so distant now that it really doesn't even make me all that sad anymore. Like it happened to someone else. Anyway, even though it might've been nice to know there were people around sooner, I'm actually really happy with who the first ones I met were. They're all really nice, and they weren't scared of me at all, and just treated me like..another person. I might've been tempted to just run away again if they'd acted the way 'normal' people do when they first meet a dragon instead."

"They are a group of extremely unusual individuals, by all accounts. I confess that my own first reaction was somewhat fearful as well."

"You got over it really quick, though!"
She nodded. "I needed only think about it rationally for a moment."

"Hey um..you wanna get back to lookin' at stuff?" Rose offered, pulling effortlessly to her feet and offering Vae a hand to help her up too—briefly failing to think about her claws.
"..Certainly." The fox-girl just used both hands to grab it around the palm and lift herself, neatly avoiding the problem. She then began to explain what uses she knew of for the leaves of the tree which had prompted this whole conversation.

---

On their way out of town, Mira retrieved the old compass her group had used before meeting Rayna and handed both it and the map to Nora so she could handle navigation. The location was only a couple of hours' march out of town in a very south, slightly east direction, which was equal parts convenient for them and worrying if the lizard-beasts were left alone too long.

"Hey uh..d'you think Rose is gonna be upset we did a quest without her?" Aria said.
"I think she's quite happy entertaining Vae for a bit," the witch said. "Realistically, she would only be upset if it's a thing where we should've gotten her help. There's a big difference between 'hey, we went and killed some lizards real quick while you were busy' and, 'hey, a giant lizard's venom nearly killed Lupa'. So we just need to make sure we're perfect this time!"

"This one won't get bit," the wolf-girl said. "Lizards get an axe to the face instead."
"Hah, yeah, that's the spirit!" the shifter said.

---

Rose's tour continued for a long while in the same way as before. She worried occasionally that she was talking too much or something, but Vae's responses did not change. Really, it felt like a somewhat equal exchange of information—the fox-girl succintly giving her knowledge of the uses for a lot of plants her "tour guide" had only chosen to grow because they were pretty. Eventually they went through some denser trees into a particular clearing,, and the Vulpin stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the cluster of flowers that largely populated it.
"Um, is..something wrong?" the dragon-girl asked, following her gaze as it darted between a few particular plants.
"Gods do tempt me," she muttered—seemingly to herself. Then, turning to actually address Rose: "Excuse me. You recall that I have been unable to attempt to replicate the experiment which...resulted in my present form."
"Yeah, 'cause you couldn't get some of the stuff you needed, right?"

Vae nodded slowly, both of her ears twitching a couple of times. "Every species I have been unable to procure is right here," she said slowly, "some of which I have never even seen alive before—only ground-up grains or small vials of their extract, to be used one drop at a time."

"Oh. Well that's...good, right? I don't mind if you take some of them," Rose said.
Her ears twitched again, one and then the other. "You probably aren't even aware of the generosity of that offer. I feel I should accept it, but...having them in front of me, I worry about causing another explosion."

"Hmmn? But, didn't you say before that it shouldn't have exploded, and there was almost definitely something else that caused your change?"

She took a slow breath and let it out again. Even though it wasn't obvious on her face or anything, Rose could almost sense the girl's heart racing. "I believe so, but doubt plagues me all the same. One must always acknowledge the possibility of being wrong; unexpected interactions occur often in nature, and especially in all kinds of magic. Still..I feel that I must at least try, given the opportunity."

Vaedin crossed her arms, still seeming conflicted. "Hey, y'know what? My friends' house, that we went through to get here, has a pretty huge empty area all around it," Rose said. "If you're worried it'll go boom, maybe you could do the possibly-risky parts there? I mean...it might, involve moving some equipment around or something, but it'd make sure you're not risking your house or neighbors or anything, right?"
She slowly nodded. "Yes...that would be wise, if they would allow it. I believe I know how I could avoid being in close proximity myself, during the part of the process at which the explosion occurred last time, as well."

"Well, then you should totally try it!" Rose said.
"You are right; I should." Vae's lips moved for the first time the dragon-girl had ever seen, tilting into the slightest of smiles. And she thought the Captain's expressions were muted!

"..I will need to return with the proper equipment to harvest the ingredients with minimal waste," she said after a second or two. "A single specimen—one flower for each species I need, that is—produces an abundance of resources if processed correctly, so I do not intend to impose on your generosity beyond that. For now...perhaps we should move on to look at other things for a while." She didn't say it aloud, but Rose had the sense that she was also worried she was too excited to do delicate work accurately right now, and needed to do whatever the opposite of psyching herself up was before getting to that work. Well—the dragon-girl was more than happy to continue her tour of the forest for a while longer.

"Um, okay!" she said, and led the way to one side, making a mental note about this particular clearing for future reference. Maybe it would be best for the moment not to tell Vae that every kind of flower here was also spread about in several other parts of her forest, too...although she might notice that all on her own, given time.

---

Nora stopped in front of some dense woods, glancing between the map and compass a few times. "This is where they were sighted," she said, shifting from fox form to cat. "We will...need to be cautious, from here on out. This...seems like ideal territory...for that kind of ambush predator."
"Yep. Lupa, watch our backs," Mira said, drawing her scythe and moving to the front of the group, Nora pulling back to walk next to Aria. The shifter changed her ears to big, fennec-like ones to benefit from better hearing as well.

There was not, however, very much to hear. The woods didn't seem to have very many ordinary animals around, save for a number of small bugs here and there. Eventually the witch stopped, pointing at the space between two trees off to their right. "That...is a giant spiderweb," she said under her breath—since their animal-ears would still let them all hear her clearly. In fact, the web had a person-sized ball hanging from it, about one-third of the way up.
"Those're..antlers," Aria whispered, pointing. "So we're talking 'deer eating' tier of spider...you okay there?" She had just noticed that Nora was shaking.

"F-f-fine," she breathed.
"Oh yeah...you've got arachnophobia, huh?" Mira remembered aloud—thinking back to their castle exploration and the whole 'boggart' incident. The elf just nodded, visibly trying to keep herself together. Lupa (still facing their rear) backed toward her and reached a hand way up to put on her shoulder.

"Tall one okay. This one will chop up any big bugs that get close," she said at about the same volume as everyone else.

She put a hand on the wolf-girl's for a moment and nodded, taking a silent deep breath and managing to quit shaking before guiding it gently off of her again. "The spider...is not our mark," she whispered. "But...if we do encounter it...it should not be left here alive...either. We must...be careful of..less visible webs. "

"Agreed," Mira said under her breath. "I'll keep a close watch and keep moving slowly. And, if all else fails: Kill it with fire."

"Kill it with..fire," the weaver agreed softly, nodding again. Maybe Rose's absence would be somewhat of a good thing, if it came to that.

---

"Do you suppose..we could stop for another break?"
"Hm? Oh, sure! This spot's perfect actually, there's a couple of old tree stumps right here to sit down on," Rose said, gesturing. Vae followed her the short distance to them and they sat across from each other.

"..Thank you. This body has always proven to have more stamina than I expect, but it is not without its limits. Your territory is more vast than I had imagined, and I feel I have even lost track of where we began."

"Yeah, well..I had a lot of time, like I said, and nobody to 'compete' with, really."
"Do monsters ever intrude on this place?"
The dragon-girl shrugged. "Sometimes. They die pretty fast though; the smart ones have all learned to steer clear."

"'Steer clear'?" Vae asked, and Rose realized that it was, perhaps, a very Earth-based expression.

"Uh, you know—keep their distance."

The Vulpin girl nodded, and carefully readjusted her glasses, from front around to the straps holding them to the back of her head. They were both quiet for a while, but it felt mutually agreed upon—so, not particularly awkward. Eventually she said, "I am curious. What was your first thought when you saw me?"
"Oh, uhhm. It's a little embarrassing, maybe," Rose said, looking away. She continued anyway: "I thought: 'Wow, she's cute'!"

Vae's ears both twitched in unison. "..I have been called many things, but not that before. I generally pay very little mind to my appearance."

"Well, yeah, but like..that's kinda what makes it cute? It's, um, there's something natural and—and, free about it. If that makes any sense?" she blabbered nervously.

"I suppose so. I'm hardly one to criticize others' aesthetic sensibilities."

"I do still think you're cute. Um, I hope that's not too—like, make anything weird or whatever.."
Vae shrugged.

"Um, but since we've talked a bunch, I know there's a lot more to you than that! You're super smart, of course, but you're also like...surprisingly considerate?"
Left ear twitch. "How so?"
"It's like—you're always careful to say things really clearly so whoever you're talking to can't get confused."
"I did spend more than half of my life employed by magic colleges. My passion has always been for novel research, but teaching is often what pays their bills," Vae said. "Additionally: When I was younger, I intentionally muted my body's normal movements and reactions through a combination of rigorous habit and—I admit—some mixtures which were not necessarily healthy to consume...all because a still, controlled body means less accidents in the laboratory. The results of that proved more potent, and far more permanent, than I expected, lasting even into this drastically altered body. Making myself perfectly clear through my words became my only real choice around people who are used to reading the entire body for expression long ago."

Rose tilted her head slightly. "'Reactions'..so like, how most beastfolk like for people they're close to to um, pet them and stuff?"
"Correct. I have had no such contact since the last of my immediate family died off, and for at least a decade prior to that, not even their touch elicited much response from my body. I..made an effort to fabricate some reaction a few times, to try to assure them that I still cared."

"So nobody's touched your ears or um, your tail in all those years?"
"Well—not more than accidentally, for the most part. And never with any particular results, including since I was changed. I hardly remember what I am missing, although sometimes I do wonder."

The dragon-girl looked off to one side, then the other. The question wasn't going to hold itself back, so she was just going to have to trust it would be taken in the best possible light. "Could I..try? Just putting a hand on one of your ears for a sec?"
Vae's ears both twitched a few times as she stared at Rose for a long moment, before finally shrugging. "I see no harm in it."
"Um, r-really? I was, like, pretty sure asking that was a bad idea. Because..boundaries and personal space and..stuff."

"I imagine you must have some instincts in common with beastfolk," she said. "In which case, wanting to do so is only a sign of affection. Or else, at worst, you wish to see for yourself the lack of a reaction."

"I guess that's right," Rose said. "I don't actually know why I wanna do it myself, except that I kinda wonder what they feel like!" She leaned forward, halfway standing up in the process, and nervously hovered a hand over Vae for a second.
"Go ahead," she said without looking up.

"Um, okay." She carefully placed her right hand on the middle of Vae's left ear, keeping the claws off of it, and moved it gently across over to the tip, sliding it off past it. It was warm, and wonderfully soft to her touch.

"Hmmn." The Vulpin's right ear twitched several times in a row, and then she suddenly shuddered. "...Curious."

Rose quickly stood upright and took a couple of steps away. "Are you okay?"

"I am," Vae nodded. "But that was..unexpected." Slowly standing up herself, she continued: "I felt something..faintly, for only a second or two. Some sort of jolt through to my spine. Could you try it again for me?"

"Uhhhm, sure!" This time Rose bravely put her hand near the base of the right ear and ran it down to the tip. Vae almost immediately shivered slightly, and then a scarecly audible, high churring sound came from her throat.

She looked up into Rose's face for a moment, and the dragon-girl noticed that her tail was actually moving, the lower third or so slowly inching left and right. "It came on somewhat stronger that time. Interesting..." Vae gently took one of Rose's hands unprompted, one hand's fingers looped around her wrist to keep it out toward her while the other ran from her forearm to her palm. "Your scales have an unusual texture to them. I wonder if that is all it is." She let go of the arm again, looking up at her once more.

"You uh, want me to..?"
Vae slowly nodded, looking even more adorable than she ever had before. This time Rose just went for it, gently and carefully rubbing the base of each ear with the tips of her fingers in a manner which kept her claws from scratching or catching on anything. The fox-girl shuddered again (only faintly compared to before), muttered a soft "O..oh.." and then proceeded to start churring once more—starting at the low volume as before, and then gradually getting louder until it was fully audible, her eyes shut and the lower half of her tail now slowly swishing back and forth.

After a short while of this, Rose's hands slid their way back down the ears and across the tips, releasing the cute Vulpin from her trance again. As she looked up—maybe it was her imagination, but Vae's cheeks seemed...slightly red, maybe. "Excuse me," she said, undoing the back strap of her glasses and setting them in a pocket of whatever bottoms her coat hid as she shuffled ever so slowly closer. "May I..?" her arms reached upward, and—gambling that she understood the nature of the request—the dragon-girl carefully helped pick her up into a gentle hug, high enough in the air for their faces to be at the same height. She was, unsurprisingly, extremely lightweight, and Rose found her own chest being pressed gently against a very small, yet quite present, pair of breasts in a way that made her face feel very warm all of a sudden.

"Hmmn. I do not fully comprehend what I am feeling," Vae said. "I only know that I want you to do it again now."
"Do wha—oh! Um, s-sure!" Rose said, feeling her heart start to race. She brought her arms up and rubbed the fox-girl's ears once again, and was rewarded by more adorable churring, Vae's face leaning slowly forward, and finally a nose on her cheek, gently nuzzling it. Her own instincts asserted themselves then, having her nuzzle right back.

This continued for a while, before she was startled by the feeling of something brushing against her tail. "Aah!" It was very soft and warm..and slowly sliding itself across the base. "O-oh..rr~rrh." It was Vae's big, fluffy dark-blue tail, and it was beginning to twist itself around hers, causing her to let out a soft, low rumble in her throat.
"Excuse me..." Vae mumbled softly. "I should have requested permission...rr~rrh..to do that.."
"I-it's fine! It feels rrrh, really nice," Rose said. "You're soo~oo soft..." Her own voice then came out in a slow, high, very pleased squeak as she felt the Vulpin pull her small, slim arms tighter, and she responded by petting those big, fluffy ears some more. After this, both of them seemed to be lost in a trance or a haze for a while, just..enjoying the feeling of all of that touch.

What slowly brought Rose out of it was something very unusual that she couldn't really make sense of at all, at first. She thought it was just Vae's body wriggling around some at first, as the first thing she noticed just seemed to be some motion from the smaller girl's chest. But she also began to notice the high churring sound from the fox-girl's throat was slowly deepening, and...also that the parts of her feet presently in contact with her scaly legs were moving...downward? But Vae's face was still in the same place as before.

She slid one hand past the tip of an ear, drawing it down to hold it around Vae's waist, and slipped the other one around to brush down through her hair. By this point the fox-girl's breasts were noticeably larger, and her voice had pulled down to a register she definitely hadn't seemed capable of before. Vaedin continued to nuzzle her for a moment before letting out a soft "Mmnnh" sound and slowly pulling her face back.

"Uhhh, Vae?"
"Mmnh?" She still wasn't entirely out of that haze yet.
"You uh..you grew." There was more motion from the smaller girl's chest. "I-I mean, you're um. Grow-ing," Rose corrected.
"Oh...indeed. Very..curious," she said slowly. "My voice seems to have changed as well." Her tail continued sliding along the dragon-girl's, making it slightly more difficult for her to focus or think even slightly rationally. "I wonder..how long this will continue," she said slowly, leaning in and nuzzling Rose once again.

"Wha—bu..you're not like..worried, or something?"

"I see no reason to be," she said, not removing her nose from the dragon-girl's cheek. "This is most likely some sort of..mrrh...previously undiscovered effect of what changed me before. It should be examined as closely as possible. Please..continue."
"U-um..okay...heheheh..!" Rose giggled nervously, and went back to petting the growing woman in her arms. Vae was...perhaps much more adventurous than she'd thought. Pretty much all of this was a huge surprise, maybe to both of them!

She listened to the chorus of their churring as Vae's slid deeper and deeper, enjoyed the sensation of the smaller girl's soft breasts steadily expanding out, squishing themselves against her own—and making it increasingly obvious that she hadn't been wearing a bra before, and so, of course, still wasn't now. Rose sneaked one of her hands back to the side of the fox-girl's waist at one point and then slid it down to her hip, finding more or less just what she'd expected—the increasing height and bust size were accompanied by a similar growth to her overall figure, greatly enhancing curves which had barely even been present before. By now her voice was already somewhat deeper than Rose's, and settling toward a low, mature alto. The changes finally began to slow down as the dragon-girl felt Vaedin's very slightly heavier weight leave her arms—the fox-girl's toes, then the balls of her feet, and finally most of her heels landing on the ground to carry it instead. Once she was only an inch or so shorter than Rose, her sudden petting-induced growth spurt came to a halt.

They nuzzled for a..short while longer after this, before slowly, mutually pulling apart, and Vae taking a few careful steps backwards, retrieving her glasses from a pocket in her now-visible shorts and setting them carefully onto her nose to look around. "Fascinating...I wonder.." she mumbled, looking down to examine herself, too. Even though the glasses hadn't been fully strapped back on, she seemed to have a keen sense of how much her head could move without making them fall off.

Rose thought it very likely that whatever magic had caused this had also altered her clothes—but only just as much as was strictly necessary. Vae's coat clung very tightly around her now very large breasts, which approached a match for Zack or even Rayna's in size; its bottom few buttons, previously left undone to avoid restricting her upper legs, now allowed the coat to spread out in an upside-down V shape that showed off a fair bit of her slim, flat belly. Its hem also didn't quite make it to her hips, where a pair of cloth shorts now hugged some very generous hips and maybe the first couple of inches of some killer thighs before leaving the rest of her long, gorgeous legs totally exposed. When she looked back up, Rose noticed that the faint blush she'd had before had become a very deep redness to her cheeks which persisted even now. Apart from that, Vae's cute face and slightly wild, shoulder-length hair seemed largely unchanged from before—yet seemed to match her present beauty at least as well as they had her previous, very petite figure.

"Is there any sort of reflective surface nearby?" she said.

"Oh, um—sure! Th-this way," Rose said excitedly, waving for her to follow as she headed toward the nearest of a collection of small pools she sometimes used for mirrors (as well as reservoirs for her plants). When they arrived, she stepped away to one side and was able to see Vaedin walking the last few steps up to it. Her hips swayed amazingly with her gait; the coat restricted her chest just enough for it to bounce up and down pleasantly but not uncontrollably; and while she seemed to move carefully—as though uncertain how to handle the considerably longer stride and a lot of the other extra movement her suddenly enhanced curves provided—she also didn't seem to have any actual difficulty balancing or moving around.

Vae stared down at her reflection, holding her glasses in place with one hand, for a long moment before saying anything. "Very strange...I cannot begin to guess at a precise cause. And, I feel as though I had only recently gotten used to my earlier appearance and voice. Still.." She looked up and over toward Rose, who was wringing her hands nervously. "I very much enjoyed that experience. It was..not the sort of thing I believe I could have imagined. Thank you."
It took most of the self-control the dragon-girl had not to just squee. Her blush was gone now, and her ears were still horizontal and barely moving, but...Vae was actually smiling. It wasn't a huge grin or anything, but it was something that most people could easily discern as a happy expression.

"Uh uh um..you're..no no, actually I should say—the feeling was mutual. Really mutual. I mean uh—that felt pretty great over here too!" she chattered excitedly instead.

"In that case.." Vae turned her body in Rose's direction and took a couple of steps toward her. "I would very much like to continue once more."
"Y-you would?"
"...Yes." Both of her ears twitched near-continually as she took another couple of steps. "I have not experienced this kind of..primal urges, in a very long time, and find myself ill-equipped to push them back."
"B-but you're still talking all calmly about it." She was still coming closer...!
"I do have experience controlling my speech." The gorgeous fox-girl stopped half a foot or so from Rose, slipping her glasses off of her face and back into a pocket in her shorts again. "And I see no reason to be rude. It would be nowhere near as pleasant if you were unwilling. May I?"
"Uuuuhhh sure! Let's uh. Yes." Rose shuffled forward to close the gap, pulling her back into a hug and going for her ears right away; Vaedin was equally quick to start curling her tail back around the dragon-girl's own.

From here, both of them very much lost track of time, simply enjoying the sensations their bodies and instincts provided...until finally Rose's stomach growled and she realized that the curvy Vulpin woman was now underneath her, lying with her back on the ground. Also, the dragon-girl's wings were at their full size and spread downward in a tight arch, the outer edges on the ground to either side of Vae.