After the meeting, well meetings, with the GMs had ended, I was returned to my home instance and my hivatar form. I spent a few minutes talking with Jasmine, letting her know what the GMs had wanted and then what Victoria had offered. She was visibly impressed and practically chivvied me into the game world.
When I materialized into the game world, I realized that my sleepy impression of “maybe snow” had been wrong. There was indeed white all around, but it certainly wasn’t snow. Instead, it appeared that I had yet again landed in an area surrounded by flowers. In this case, they were blossoms and wind-blown petals rather than wildflowers. I was standing in a cobblestone plaza near to the basin of a reflecting pool. It wasn’t doing much reflecting, however. Just as the plaza was carpeted in white petals of fallen blossoms, so too was the surface of water covered in floating petals.
The source of the petals was likely the tall, thin, silver-barked trees that lined the plaza, their own greenery nearly concealed by the masses of white blossoms upon their boughs. Despite all the petals on the ground or floating on the water or breeze, the trees did not seem to be anywhere close to being depleted of blossoms. The honey-sweet scent of the blossoms was undeniably present, but wasn’t cloyingly overpowering. There was a faint hint of vanilla underlying the sweetness, perhaps also from the white blossoms, but maybe drifting in from outside the plaza.
It was altogether too fancy for a starting settlement, I thought. Previous gaming experience had me expecting to start in or near a small village or hamlet, perhaps dedicated to farming or fishing, but certainly some backwater location. This, however, had the look of a park or plaza in a major city, possibly a capital city, but certainly one of some significance.
There were people in the plaza, maybe three or four small groups of other players—at least judging by their outfits and visible equipment—and some scattered other people, possibly NPCs. The groups of players were standing around and talking but those not in obvious groups were walking around, passing through the plaza to whatever destinations they may have had.
As I was taking in the sights, sounds, and scents of the square, it appeared that those groups of players had noticed me. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by a small crowd, all talking at once.
“We need a pretty girl in our group. Please join with us!”
“With those robes, you’re a healer right? We need a healer to help us fight!”
“Hey, cutie, come with me and not with them. I’ll let you rock my world!”
“Back off, we saw her first!”
“What’s the point of playing if it's just with these guys? I’ll leave my party and join with you!”
With each comment, they were crowding closer and closer, jostling each other, and not really leaving me any path out of the encirclement.
It felt like it was only a matter of time before they stopped shoving each other and started grabbing at me. Wait, was that last one a pickup line?
All except for one, a grizzled dwarf who was staying in the back of the crowd and rolling his eyes at the antics of his party, were taller than I was. They were humans mostly, with two elves and one Nekoun with warpaint suggestive of tiger stripes.
“I don’t have good armor yet, but let me do my best to protect you.”
“I didn’t know angels were player races.”
Besides the dwarf who was staying to the back, some of the other guys were starting to look a bit uncomfortable with the way their teammates were acting and speaking. Not uncomfortable enough to speak up, but they were starting to sidle away.
“If you join our group, we’ll buy you a pretty dress.”
“Forget dresses, we’ll buy you a good weapon, maybe a fancy staff?”
“I’ve got a staff she can use! Hahaha!”
Ugh. I was about ready to treat these groups of guys like I had treated the minor skeletons in the ruins. Since PvP wasn’t really enabled, it might not do any real damage, but it should at least let me get out from being surrounded. I might even take the time to hit that last guy twice! If I was in luck, pain would be enabled even if damage wasn’t.
But before I could access my inventory, a woman’s voice rose over them. “Hey! Leave my little sister alone! Get away from her, you jerks!” Though she was shorter than them, the woman pushed her way through the crowd and grabbed my arm, pulling me dangerously off-balance as she dragged me free of the men. “There you are. I was looking all over for you! Why didn’t you tell me you were being bullied by these boys?”
Then she turned to glare at the crowd of young men. “And you all should be ashamed of yourself, harassing a little girl and trying to kidnap her! Are you going to leave her alone, or do I need to tell the guards that you were bothering people again?”
Several of the men shook their heads and a few even had the grace to look ashamed, but at least one continued on. “Our group has room for more. We can take both you girls with us. With you two girls keeping us healed, we can fight any monster around!”
She shot him a disdainful look. “The only way you or your friends will ever get a girl in your group is if one of you rerolls a female character for yourself. Now, stop bothering us!”
The dwarf guffawed, “She’s got you there, Laddie. Or, maybe Lady?”
“Shut up! You want to fight!? I’ll duel you! I’ll stab you, I’ll stab you to death!”
My, ah, rescuer? pulled my arm again, dragging me away from the reflecting pool and toward the treeline at the west of the plaza. “Come along, Sis. Let’s get away from here.” There was a definite sound of a scuffle behind us, with people taking sides and egging on one or another of the combatants. It sounded like a bad day at high school. A high school with weapons.
She stormed off with me in tow, and though she seemed to want to put a lot of distance between us and the men, she wasn’t moving as fast as I would have assumed someone in her mindset would. None of the men followed us physically, but I could sense their eyes upon us, at least those that weren’t watching the elf and dwarf duel.
As we left the scene of the confrontation, I got to study the woman who had come to my aid. She was taller than I—not like that was hard to do—but still shorter than most of the men she had faced down. She was pale, with light brown hair falling free to her waist and wearing a long, midnight blue dress that hugged a well-proportioned figure. The dress was tight in all the right places. A good many of the eyes following us were probably lingering on her hips.
Though I was shorter, I kept pace with her easily once I overcame my surprise at being yanked free of the guys. Far enough away that the other players wouldn’t hear, I spoke up. “Um, thank you for the assist. But you must have me confused for someone. I don’t have an older sister.” Well, I do, at least technically, but my twin wouldn’t be looking for a younger sister. “I can help you look for her, though.”
She held a finger up to her lips, looked around, and shrugged. Speaking quietly, she replied, “Sorry, I can’t move very fast. We’ll talk once we leave the starting square.” A bit louder, she continued. “I was sooo worried when you didn’t appear in the plaza with me. Did you have trouble with the tutorial?”
I didn’t know quite what she was getting at, so with a slight shrug of my own, I played along. “A bit. There were so many rats and then skeletons that it took a while.”
“Well, now that you’re here, we can do things together. It’ll go faster and be more fun. Don’t worry about the monsters, I’ll keep you safe.”
As we approached the tree line, I saw that each tree was surrounded by a small wooden fence and that the fences were generally connected one to another by a rather prickly hedge, about shoulder-high to me. There were openings, places where there was no hedge between the trees, and we were headed toward one of those.
Once out of the plaza, we were on a narrow cobblestone street lined with buildings, business of some sort judging by the signs hanging above the doorways. Most signs had a picture, like a sword and shield above what might be a weapons store, a bunch of grapes and a chicken leg for a restaurant or inn, and so on. The signs also had lettering—or at least that’s what I assumed the swirly shapes were—but it wasn’t any language I recognized or could read.
We started down the street and before we got to the first doorway, we passed through a faintly shimmering curtain of light that caused my skin to tingle and hair to briefly become frizzy. The woman’s hair went wild, as if blowing in a strong breeze but then fell back to lie along her back as if nothing had happened.
Just the other side of that, she stopped her slow forward charge and turned to face me. “Barrier spell,” she explained. “It keeps the flower petals mostly in the plaza.” With an expression that hinted at reluctance, she let go of my arm. “I’m Meredith, but you can call me Tabitha. And sorry to surprise you like that, but it was the best plan I could come up with on the spur of the moment. Those cowards have been harrassing everyone that newly appears, too afraid to even leave the starting square by themselves. There’s plenty that they could do that doesn’t need a big group to do; look at me, after all! But the way they were talking to you made my blood boil. I couldn’t let them treat a little girl like that. Even if you’re not really as young as you look. Can I ask how old you really are?”
I blinked at the sudden outpour of information. “Thanks again for the assist, Tabitha. I’ve never been in a situation like that, so I didn’t really know what to do.” I knew female characters, whether they were female players or not, often got treated differently in games, but seeing—experiencing—it in person, so to speak, was quite a bit different than reading about it or seeing it happen on screen. “I’d rather not talk much about real life, if you don’t mind, but I’m in my early twenties.” An exact age wasn’t needed here. “And you can call me Madelyn Alexis. So you don’t have a little sister you were looking for?”
She smiled, her whole face lighting up. “That’s a pretty name; I like it. And you’re still young enough to be a little sister. In a manner of speaking, I wasn’t really looking for my younger sister. I was an only child. But in another way of looking at it, I was. It’s my backstory.”
“Your backstory? So it’s your roleplay?”
“Yes and no. It’s more than that. But come on, let’s get a little further from the starting square. You probably want to do some shopping, and I know the perfect shop for you!” She glanced up and to the right, possibly looking at the minimap on her interface, and then started down the street, gesturing for me to follow. “This way, come on!”
Not having anything else in particular to do, and well, I did need to buy new arrows, I walked alongside her. “Your backstory?” I prompted.
“So, it’s like this. You know how under ‘other options’ there’s places for things that aren’t exactly character appearance, such as voice selection? Yours is cute, by the way. Good choice. It fits you! Well, I’m a ghost, and all ghosts have a reason they stick around in the world instead of going on to whatever heaven, hell, nirvana, or reincarnation exists in the game. Mine is that I was the last princess of an ancient kingdom and died while looking for my kidnapped little sister. There’s more to it than that, but that’s the short version.”
Other options? Voice selection? Why did I never see those? I guess I hadn’t explored character creation as thoroughly as I had thought I had. I mean, I did make at least one ghost character, but I don’t remember seeing anything about backstories. “Um, so you chose that backstory? What if you didn’t choose one and just started the game without going into other options?”
“I think the system would have just given me something basic, like ‘Widow who died while waiting for her husband to come back from war.’ That’s what mine was before I changed it. Boring!”
… Does that mean I could have designed the “more primal form” I turned into with Hidden Nature? Or at least modified it somewhat? And now I’m stuck with what the system filled out for me? Argh! Well, at least I wasn’t a ghost with an auto-created backstory that had me being someone’s wife…!
Rather than dwell on what could have been, I looked at Tabitha. She did seem to be waiting for me to say something, so I nodded. “That does sound a bit generic. Princesses are usually better than widows, right?”
“And I died trying to do something rather than sitting around pining after a man who wasn’t going to come back. Ugh, marriage! Who needs it? Oh, here’s the first place. It’s not the shop I’m taking you to, but it’s one you should visit.”
The building she stopped in front of was a bit more dilapidated and ramshackle than its neighbors, but none of the buildings on this street seemed to be in particularly good condition. They weren’t falling down or anything, but paint was chipping, shutters were loose, and some of the buildings seemed to lean or sag a little. This one, well it was probably only still standing because the two buildings on other side were so close that the shop didn’t have any room to fall over into.
The sign over the door ... doorway depicted a box and a bag and the same unreadable swirly script. Doorway, because rather than a door, this building had two flaps of some heavy leather-like fabric nailed up, one covering the outside of the doorway and the other on the inside, so entering the building was more like entering a tall tent.
“What is this place?” I asked. Just inside the doorway, with only a narrow clear path from the doorway to the counter, was an immense amount of … stuff. Wooden boxes piled upon wooden boxes. Shelves with all manner of bags from small coin purses to something large enough to have been Goliath’s sleeping bag. In most places, the clutter towered over me, which wasn’t hard given that Madelyn Alexis was rather short, but quite a few stacks of boxes were taller than Tabitha was, and she was the proverbial head-and-shoulders above me.
Before my companion could answer, however, the shopkeeper did, or at least a voice from somewhere behind all the clutter did. “Travellers, Travellers, welcome to Bags and Boxes. Oh, bless my bones, it’s been such a busy day. Busy, busy, but busy is good for business, as Granny used to say. Just a moment, let me put this away and I’ll be right out.”
With a bit of apprehension, since some of those stacks of boxes looked as ready to topple as the building had, I followed Tabitha toward the counter. The counter, as it turned out, was basically an overturned box, a long one, granted, that stretched nearly from wall to wall, but low enough that it wouldn’t be inconvenient for me to use.
Shortly after we reached the counter, the reason for its low height became apparent. A stoop-shouldered dwarf with a nearly floor-length, unkempt, greying beard hobbled into view from behind a precarious stack of boxes. He was even shorter than I, so I had no idea how he could have managed doing anything with those stacks—which was, perhaps, the reason the stacks were in such condition.
He squinted and peered at us as he rounded the end of the counter and started down toward where we were standing. “Tabitha? Tabitha, dear, I have no errands that need doing today. You haven’t used up all those bags already, have you? And who is this you’ve brought with you today?” He approached, and leaned over the countertop to stare at me. “Well bless my bones and bounce my buttons, as Granny used to say, a real live Tauros, and a girl-child one, too? You’re a long way from home, my dear.”
He chuckled and leaned back, “I used to think I was a long way from home, but we didn’t cross any oceans to get here. We don’t hear of too many Tauros north of the Great Sea. Those few are all grown men or an infrequent young bull, but never a girl-child. You must really be living up to being a Traveller, coming all this way.”
I shrugged and nodded. “I … I guess so, Sir.”
Tabitha spoke up, “Qrilli, this is my dear friend Madelyn Alexis.” She placed a hand on my shoulder. “Like me, she’s new to Echeirn and could use some bags to improve her inventory.”
“Oho, shopping it is. ‘Put any two pretty girls together,’ Granny used to say, ‘and they’ll want to go shopping or talk about men.’ Of course, Granny would know, shopping being in her bones and men being in her buttons, as she used to say. Old Qrilli here doesn’t have much to offer your pretty, young eyes to look at nowadays, but if you came by a hundred years ago, I cut quite the figure, I did indeed.”
The dwarf looked and sounded like a jovial old man, but the way his eyes gleamed when he looked at Tabitha and me was more than a bit creepy. Being a jovial old man and being a dirty old man weren’t mutually exclusively. I pulled the edges of my robes closer. Sash and brooch helped, but they weren’t enough to hold back roaming eyes.
“So shopping it is, bags of course. Of course, of course. Nobody wants boxes anymore, not since the fall of the Underkingdom.” His voice had a note of sadness in it, but the reverie was lost in a flash. “I can give you a discount, friend of Tabitha, not a big one, but she’s been so helpful with running errands yesterday, that a friend of hers is a friend of us all. But discount,” he continued, “still means payment. So, Traveller, coin or barter, which will it be?”
“Well, how much do the bags cost?”
“Well, now, Missy, that depends, that depends….”
The dwarf merchant fell silent as Tabitha raised a hand. She then turned toward me, her other hand still on my shoulder. “You probably have several pelts from killing rats, right? Just put them on the counter unless you want to save them to use for your own crafting.”
I nodded and accessed my inventory, placing all nine Large Rat Pelts on the counter. Three of them were low quality, perhaps damaged too much by the fight—or perhaps just bad RNG on the loot table. I tended to think it was the latter. After all, I certainly killed more than nine of those rats, even if I was skipping a lot of them at the end. If it had just been a matter of damage, I should have had more than twenty pelts to offer.
“Raw materials as barter?” I asked.
Some minutes later and with four new six-slot bags to expand my inventory, Tabitha and I were back outside the shop and headed, presumably, for another. “What did he mean about no one wanting boxes anymore?” I asked.
She shrugged slightly. “I don’t have the whole story, but Echeirn used to be an important stop on a major trade route. The town is on an island in the middle of a lake. The river that flows into the lake comes down from the mountains and the river that flows out joins with another that goes to the sea. So a lot of shipping came through the town.”
“I guess the Underkingdom was at one of the ends of the river?”
She nodded. “Under the mountains, I guess, so Dwarves, which is why he was sad.”
“‘They delved too deeply,’” I quoted Tolkien.
She nodded again, “Perhaps, but we’re not going to hunt Balrog or Gorgon today! Even if we were strong enough, that’s a long ways away upriver.” She pointed to the southwest. “And we’re not strong enough, not yet.”
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We continued talking as we went from shop to shop. It turned out that Tabitha had spent most of her game-playing time yesterday in town, doing little fetch or delivery quests, and filling in her map of the place. What she hadn’t done, yet, was do much post-tutorial combat. However, the little island was dotted with ruins, places left behind when Echeirn began to wither and shrink. Temples, shrines, docks and warehouses, farmhouses, that sort of stuff. There would be plenty of opportunity for fighting and leveling later, then.
Parting with some coins, I traded in my basic staff and dagger for slightly better ones. I already had a better bow, but I kept the starter one as a just-in-case weapon. The bowyer looked surprised when I showed him the weapon I got from the skeleton, and offered to restore its durability for free just so that he could say that he had worked on such a weapon. Since it would have cost ten silver coins, more than I would have had without the stash given for being a Heroine, I accepted. Hard to say “no” to free, after all.
The bowyer’s brother was the town’s fletcher—they both did business out of the same shop—so while my Enchanted Zulathan Great Bow of Water was being repaired, I also replaced my quiver and stocked up on arrows. The starting quiver could hold thirty arrows, which probably would have been more than enough for anything other than fighting another Sar’Glagalth-style monster, but the new quiver came with a slight modifier to Agility. Better stats was always a good idea, even if the quiver cost in excess of three silver all by itself. And that was with them extending me the same small discount that Tabitha had earned.
The new quiver held forty arrows, and I bought extras. Now that I was out of the tutorial, arrows could be lost or broken in combat, so having spares would not be a bad idea. Moreover, if I had to use the ability of my bow, the arrows would be used up. Again. I had left the tutorial with nothing left to shoot, so it was a good thing that I was able to shop before I had to fight once more!
For the three sets of forty arrows, I just bought the most basic arrows the fletcher had. At a copper bit per arrow, the quiver and arrows alone would have used up all my starting money if I hadn’t been a Heroine. The more expensive arrows, ranging from three copper bits each all the way up to fifty silver coins for a bundle of twenty arrows, were beyond (even way beyond) what I wanted to spend right now. Archery was going to be even more expensive than I had thought. On the plus side, however, unless I used the special ability of my bow, I wasn’t going to need to pay to restore durability for my weapons and armor as much as someone who was involved in melee combat every battle would need to.
Continuing on our way to whichever mystery shop that Tabitha thought was perfect for me, we also stopped at a stall selling potions and other such adventuring necessities. Other than the energy drinks, I had used up everything the tutorial had provided me—and then some!—in the last fight. If I was going to be adventuring in abandoned ruins and fighting who-knows-what, it would be foolhardy to do so without proper preparation.
Wincing a little as I paid double the cost for potions made with rarer ingredients that didn’t taste horrible, I added the ten Basic Healing Potions (Quality) and fifteen Basic Mana Draughts (Quality) to my inventory.
“Someday, I’ll be able to make those,” Tabitha stated. She had bought a few for herself, weighted even more to mana than healing.
“Oh? You’re an alchemist?”
“Yes. Well, I took the skill, but I haven’t been able to do anything with it yet. No ingredients.”
Before I could tell her that I had the Gathering skill and might be able to help her, we stopped in front of a store that looked much fancier than any of the ones we’d been to yet. For starters, it had windows, of what appeared to be glass. Every place else had made do with shutters over some sort of translucent fabric or maybe oiled paper. Displayed in the windows were several mannequins modeling outfits that the store apparently sold.
“Here we are!”
I looked at the mannequins in the window. One was wearing a deep green dress of the same style and fabric as Tabitha’s blue dress. It seemed apparent she had shopped for herself here. The second was also in a dress, though one much, much shorter and of a shimmery white fabric. With its high collar, negligible sleeves, and short slit on the side running from hem to waist, the dress reminded me of the stereotypical Chinese dresses, albeit a bit more sexualized due to its length than would likely be common. The third mannequin depicted a younger girl in a white-and-turquoise dress that had more frills than even Victoria’s style had. It looked like what Dorothy Gale would have worn had she been an animated princess instead of a farmgirl from Kansas. The fourth figure was more androgynous, wearing what appeared to be form-fitting black pants and a tank top with a silvery belt and accents, but a second glance revealed the outfit to be one connected piece rather than two coordinating pieces.
“And ‘here’ is…. A dress shop?”
My tone had been perhaps a bit dubious, and it seemed that she had caught on to that. “Weeeeellll, they do have more than just dresses,” she replied. “Think of it is cloth armor, and like your weapons, you should look into upgrades. Besides, there are a couple I saw in there yesterday that would look adorable on you! Come on!” She grabbed for my hand again, and led (well, tugged, almost) me into the store.
The inside of the store was spacious and well-lit. Several globes of light were hovering near the ceiling, but didn’t seem to be attached in any way. While there were racks of clothing along the two side walls, the main floorspace of the shop was populated by more mannequins displaying various outfits, mostly but not exclusively dresses. There were about half a dozen people, players probably by their manner of dress, browsing the racks of clothing under the watchful eyes of a trio of elven women.
Based on resemblance—the same strawberry blonde hair; the same high cheekbones, thin brows, and vaguely too-large nose; and the same slim, lithe figures—the three elves were probably mother and daughters. The older of the three was fairly tall, at least head-and-shoulders above the other two who appeared to be close to Tabitha in height if not figure. They were all dressed spectacularly, probably modeling various clothing that was sold in the shop. The oldest wore a long, sparkling black gown that, despite the modesty of its cut, would not have looked one bit out of place on any red-carpet Hollywood award ceremony. One of the two younger women wore an asymmetric blouse and skirt combo in a deep pine green with emerald-hued embroidered accents. The third was all in oranges and reds, looking much like a living candle flame.
The three turned as we entered, and the elf in black walked toward us, with outstretched arms. “Tabitha, dear, welcome back. I trust you remain satisfied with your gowns?” She embraced my companion and kissed her on both cheeks, then held her at arm’s length, looking the ghost up and down. “Blue really is your color. You wear it well. And who is this you brought with you, someone else looking for a gown to match?”
She studied my outfit and frowned slightly, “The colour suits you, but that’s not at all the style I would have chosen for you. But you’ve come to the right place if you’re looking to upgrade your image to something more refined.”
Tabitha laughed, “This, Madame, is my dear friend, Madelyn Alexis. Like me, she’s a Traveller, and so didn’t have much to choose from initially.”
Again, I was introduced as a dear friend. We had only just met, but it didn’t seem right to contradict her. Not only did she help me out with that situation when I arrived, but she’s taken a lot of her time to show me around town already. I had a feeling that in time we would be close friends. Perhaps I’ve found the start of my group in ECHO.
Tabitha was still speaking as I was mulling that over. “... would appreciate your expert assistance and advice in choosing her a new wardrobe.” I almost didn’t quite see it, but Tabitha discreetly passed a few coins to the elf.
Instantly, the elf was at my side, arm across my shoulders in a companionable way, and leading me toward a curtained-off staircase at the back of the store. With her at one side, and Tabitha practically holding my hand, I really had no recourse but to go along with them.
“Tiamana,” she called out and the younger elf in green turned. “Please go and prepare the Flower Room. Ramantia, you’re in charge of the shop. Call out if you need assistance.” One elf hurried upstairs ahead of us, and the other took an even more watchful and attentive stance as she was left behind.
The room upstairs that we were led to was richly appointed. It featured hardwood paneling to halfway up the wall where it was capped by a small mantle. Continuing above, the walls were of plaster, but in a swirling pattern evocative of clouds. Three of the four corners of the room had a flowering plant in decorative urns: one plant with red blossoms like fountains of bells, one plant with tiny, pink blossoms nestled between heart-shaped leaves, and the third plant was a small shrub with waxy, dark green leaves like holly and graced with starlike, white flowers that seemed to sparkle. The fourth corner of the room was screened off with a folding, wooden privacy screen painted like a field of wildflowers—looking much like the tutorial instance did, for that matter. Three elegant couches surrounded a low, wooden table. A fine porcelain tea setting was in place as was a silver tray piled high with flower-shaped sugar cookies. Tiamana was standing just outside the doorway and followed us in, closing the door behind her.
“Well, my dear,” the older elf released me and stepped back a pace or two. “Let’s see what we have to work with, so I know how best to decorate you with fabric.”
I blinked and stood there, “Huh?”
Tabitha laughed, “She means get undressed. You can’t try on new dresses on top of your Traveller’s basic set, after all!” She also stepped away, and took a seat on one of the couches. Tiamana stepped forward from where she had been standing by the doorway and poured my companion a cup of tea.
“Oh? Oh! Um … ah….” I’m sure I was blushing, and the stammering actually helped in that it meant I didn’t have to try to respond.
The older elf laughed gently, “A bit body shy are you? You make a cute counterpoint to your friend, Tabitha. Tiamana, if you would help her…?”
Before I knew it, my robe, sash, slippers, and headband were draped over the back of the nearest couch. My ring and brooch were set on the edge of the table. Shouldn’t the game system prevent players from being de-equipped? Or was being in a dressing room, albeit a very fancy one, considered implied consent? Sans equipment, I stood there in just the black bandeau and matching bikini briefs, trying to convince myself that it was swimwear and not underwear. Throughout it all, Tiamana was nothing but the consummate professional, and the shopkeeper and Tabitha shared a quiet, whispered conversation.
Finally, after what seemed like ages but couldn’t have been more than half a minute, the older elf approached me. She stayed out of arm’s reach—her arms, not mine—but studied my body the way a sculptor eyes a slab of uncut marble. My tail swished in nervous agitation, and I tried to not fiddle with my hands or cross my arms in front of myself.
“The foundation is solid, but the underthings will need to be changed. The material is too thick, intended as they were as partial outerthings, and they will mar the draping of the fabric. Too, the black will show through some fabrics. What do you think, Tiamana?”
The younger elf angled her head and pursed her lips in thought. “The melon creme, maybe?” she asked, much like a student who wasn’t entirely sure of her answer. “It is thin and light, but modest enough for a shy girl, and the colours will suit her complexion.”
Her mother nodded. “A good choice. I was thinking of the sunrise floral, but you may be right that the lighter hues of melon creme will suit her better than something bolder. If you would please get a set?”
Tiamana nodded, and whatever followed must have been the equivalent of us players accessing inventory, for she presented me with a bra and panty set without leaving the room, and there was no chest or rack of clothing in here for her to rifle through.
Gingerly, I accepted them. The bra was a bandeau-style like what I was currently wearing, and the matching panties were of a modest cut. The fabric was thin, but lightly lined with some soft, white fabric at the front of the bandeau and crotch of the panties. “Melon creme” was apparently a very light orange and a very pale yellow that was almost white, both in thin, horizontal stripes. Each stripe was separated from its neighbor by a silvery line that caught the light and faintly sparkled.
“Unless you still need Tiamana’s help,” the older elf slightly chided, “you can change behind the screen.”
Blushing, I nodded and made my way to the screened off corner. Behind the screen was a comfortable chair, a small rack for hanging clothing, and a full-length mirror. Avoiding looking in the mirror, I closed my eyes tightly and changed from the basic black underwear—swimwear, right?—into the melon creme set. Sadly, I didn’t think I’d be able to delude myself into considering this set to be a swimsuit.
Once dressed, and definitely still avoiding the mirror, I stepped out from behind the screen to let her evaluate whether the set met whatever esoteric criteria she was judging them by. Tabitha gave me a wink and an encouraging smile, and the elves—both of them this time—were looking me up and down.
Tiamana turned to her mother with a questioning look and was rewarded with a slight nod. “The colors do suit her, but I think the top needs something a little … more,” she responded. “If she’s going to be wearing a dress…. Perhaps….”
Tiamana smiled, “Well, we do have more in melon creme. How about this one?” What she presented was a camisole, with spaghetti-thin straps, a slightly v-shaped neckline, and a little bow accent at the front and center of said neckline. Like the bandeau, it was all in light orange, pale yellow, and sparkling silver. This time, though, rather than horizontal stripes, the fabric was in colorblocks: half the bodice in light orange, half in pale yellow, with the almost-sheer fabric below also half-and-half, but with the orange and yellow reversed. The straps, the outline of the blocks, the bow, and the little frilly accent at the neckline and hem were all in the sparkly silver.
Behind the screen, and with my eyes again tightly shut, I changed from bandeau to camisole. It too had the front of the bodice lined with the same soft, white fabric. Below the bust line, which was snug, the rest of the camisole was a bit more loose, swishing slightly as I walked out from behind the screen. The hem of the top reached a bit past the waistband of the bottoms, which meant that my tail was a little in the way.
Tabitha gave me an encouraging smile and both elves nodded in satisfaction. “That was what was missing, yes.” The oldest was studying me in a fashion that should have left me uncomfortable if not for her air of detached professionalism. “That will help give the appropriate silhouette. Good choice, Tiamana.”
Seeing my confusion, the younger elf laughed softly. “You’ll grow into your womanhood soon, I’m sure, but until then a very little bit of padding will help showcase the fashion.”
Padding? Oh no….
With apprehension, I looked downward at myself, turning my shoulders slightly from side to side to get a better angle. Small enough to be overlooked, but definitely still there, was the hint of a suggestion of an impression of curves. Not even to the proportions of my slight hivatar, the padding that I had somehow not noticed (perhaps because I had avoided looking as I got dressed) did give a very little bit of non-flat shape to my chest.
Argh! My manly pride….
The older elf misunderstood my embarrassed dejection and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Madelyn Alexis. You’re still on the cusp of womanhood. In time, two or three months unless I misread my guess, you’ll start filling out. Then, come back, and we’ll set you up with something else nice to wear. But for now, let’s see what we have that suits you.” She turned to face the ghost. “Tabitha, dear, did you have any you wanted to try for her?”
What followed next was worse than that Easter so many years ago when Lex had me masquerade as her so she wouldn’t get grounded. It was maybe even worse than that time when … well, never mind that.
Tabitha had if not hundreds, then dozens of suggestions starting with a dress that was the little sister of the one she was wearing: deep midnight blue, long, cap sleeved, and a bit clingy in places, though I didn’t have the natural curves to do it justice. I shuddered a bit, mentally, as I pictured my primal form trying to wear it.
My tail presented some challenges as it would be in the way of long dresses. Moreover, it was physically uncomfortable to have it buried beneath all that fabric, unable to twitch or swish or sway. I thought the obvious solution would be two separate pieces for top and bottom, preferably pants and a shirt, but when I suggested that, all three shook their heads.
“It’s an easy enough modification,” Tiamana explained. “Even Ramantia could do it in her sleep, though she’s better with the business part.”
Gown after gown, dress after dress followed each other while I endured my temporary—very temporary, hopefully—role as living barbie doll, though fortunately without her figure.
There were even a few that I liked, surprising as that may be. Well, there were many I would have liked if someone else were wearing them, but me being the model was a different story. The first such was a rather simple fawn-and-white gingham dress with a “peter pan” collar, apparently known here as a a’limari, or faerie maiden, collar since Peter Pan wasn’t part of their culture. The sleeves were loose and elbow-length. The dress, overall, was loose, with the hint of curves from the camisole’s padding being obscured, and flaring out from a high waist to a knee-length hemline trimmed with a short, box-pleated ruffle of the same fabric. The outfit came with an apron with wide shoulder straps, a modest bodice that further concealed my imitation curves, and a wide expanse of fabric that reached three-quarters of the way down the skirts of the dress. The apron was sheer and off-white, maybe eggshell or ivory, and was basically decorative rather than functional.
It was comfortable. It was modest. It was plain but pretty. I fell in love with the dress immediately, which is something I never thought I would ever say. I wanted the dress, but it wouldn’t be practical for fighting in. Well, neither was the outfit I had started in, and this was a fantasy setting where some of the regular rules didn’t apply. Maybe I could wear it in town when I didn’t need to fight. Manly pride be damned, I wanted that dress.
Something in my expression or bearing must have alerted Tabitha, since that dress was set aside while several others followed.
While I was trying on dress after dress, the shopkeeper was conferring with Tabitha. I only heard snatches of conversation, but “bow, dagger, and staff” from one was followed by “Agility and Brilliance or maybe Agility and Willpower, then.”
Eventually, after what had to have been more than an hour of modeling dresses with infrequent breaks to sip some tea, which was a honey-sweetened decoction that reminded me of the blossoms in the starting plaza, or nibble at a sugar cookie or two, they seemed to be wrapping up. Tabitha was now no longer suggesting outfits or helping button them up, but was instead sitting back and letting the elves decide amongst themselves.
Tiamana presented me with a short and very form-fitting dress of pale cream embroidered with gold. It was the cousin to the Chinese-styled dress in the window display, with a mandarin collar, cap sleeves, and a hemline that, when worn, barely reached long enough to preserve modesty. Add a tail to the mixture, and it was trouble waiting to happen.
She shook her head, “As I thought, the style is a little too mature for your tender years.” She made an abortive gesture to help me unclasp the odd fastenings, then frowned. “Well, maybe if…” Pausing, she turned to her mother, “Leggings would make that a tunic instead of a dress.”
The older elf smiled and nodded, radiating approval. “Give it a try.”
From whatever mysterious inventory space she was accessing, Timana the presented me with something different from anything else I had worn yet today. Pants. Of a fashion. The fabric was nearly as thick as the leggings my sister wore for jogging, but unlike them, this matte black fabric continued down the legs to cover the feet as well. They were more like thick tights or hose, but….
I slipped them on, the two leg openings letting me argue successfully with my manly pride. While the fabric was tight and formfitting, it wasn’t any worse than wearing socks tucked into or over longjohns. That was my mental acrobatics in action, anyway.
While I was doing that, the older elf found a pair of shoes to match the dress, uh, tunic, yeah, tunic. Leather ankle boots the same off-white shade of cream as the dre— tunic, with gold-colored metal buckles to match the embroidery of the top. They did have a very slight chunky heel, maybe an inch in height, but since the rest of the sole was half-an-inch-or-so in thickness, the angle would be barely noticeable.
Standing there, in the dress and leggings, I felt strangely comfortable in it despite the snugness and unmistakably feminine nature of the outfit. The dress was short enough that it wouldn’t interfere with any quick movements and the leggings meant that I didn’t need to worry about flashing people. While the three other girls were oohing and ahhing, I took a quick look at my status screen, focusing on the equipment portion:
Head:
Torso: Risqué Mianian Short Dress (borrowed) [DUR: 50/50] [DEF: +1] [AGI: +2] [CHR:+4]
Arms:
Waist: Agile Elfweave Leggings (borrowed) [DUR: 75/75] [AGI: +3] [WIL: +2]
Legs: Supple Miniboots (borrowed) [DUR: 65/65] [DEF: +1] [CHR: +3]
Main Hand:
Off-Hand:
Left Ring:
Right Ring:
Bracelet:
Necklace:
Other 1:
Other 2: Melon Creme Padded Cami Set (borrowed) [DUR: 25/25] [DEF: +1] [CHR: +1]
I also brushed away a prompt to take Modeling (C/E) as a skill. Why was that even in the game?
“Well?” Tabitha was grinning, “What do you think?”
“I … I like it,” I admitted. I studied my reflection in the mirror and tried to not pay any attention to how the tight fit of the top did nothing to hide the hint of curve that the padding brought out. I was still definitely wearing a dress, but the illusion of pants that the leggings created was sufficient that I could, with a little effort, see the dress as just a long shirt.
With everything that had already happened, the unique skills and perks and so on, and with the deal I had just made with the GMs, there just was no way out of playing as Madelyn Alexis. It wasn’t like she was the first female character I had ever played…. She was just the first one I had actually inhabited. I had always liked making my game characters look good, girls included, in part because I had to look at them on the screen and in part because, well, if I’m being honest, a bit of vanity. I guess that carried over to Madelyn Alexis, too. Even if I had to endure waaaay too much game time modeling different dresses, the end result was, maybe, worth it.
“Great! I’m happy you found something you liked, Madelyn Alexis. Now there’s just two more things to do before we go on.” Tabitha’s smile was both warm and hinting at mischief.
“Uh? Huh? What’s that?”
Tabitha raised a finger, “One, thank Madame and her daughter for their advice, assistance, and time. And two,” another finger arose and she winked through the v-shaped gap, “you pay them before you walk off with your new outfit!”
“Oh! Ah, yes. Sorry! Sorry!” I bowed deeply, “Thank you both for your help. I am deeply indebted to you for your patience with me and for your help in selecting a new and lovely outfit.” No, system, I don’t want to take the skills Flattery (C/L) or Charm Person (C/C). Aren’t those too specific, anyway? Shouldn’t they be implied by Negotiation or Bluff or some other skill? “I would like to buy everything I’m wearing, and….” I looked around, but the brown dress was already put away, “Err, well, maybe I should find out how much I will be spending?”
Thirty-three silver lighter, more than a third of what I had remaining and certainly much more than I should have been able to afford were it not for being a Heroine, we left the shop, but only after the elves had extracted a promise from me to come back the next time I wanted a new dress. They did say “dress,” too, rather than “outfit.”
Back out on the main street, with ring and brooch re-equipped (the brooch was now somewhat smaller than before, about button-sized, and attached to one of the braided fabric decorative buttons on the dress’s mandarin collar), I was startled by Tabitha grabbing me into a tight hug. It was more than a little embarrassing, given our differences in height and figure, but she squeezed me tight against her and ruffled my hair.
“Thank you so much, Madelyn Alexis!” Her voice was husky with suppressed emotion. “I never had a little sister or even a daughter or niece to take shopping, so you let me live an experience I’ve never had before!” She released the hug and with her hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eye. “It’s like you really are the little sister I’ve been looking for, and not just as a spur-of-the-moment excuse to help rescue you from those boys!”
[System Message] You have been awarded the Special Title “Little Sister” by Tabitha.
She must have received a system message too, since her eyes were as wide in shock as my eyes felt. Nearly in unison, we both exclaimed, “How did you do that!?”