They quickly returned to the room, eager to get away from both prying eyes and prying ears, not taking the Warder's lack of care for the norm. Once they were inside, Beth took another minute to look over Blood in her human form, admiring what her companion had turned into. Blood preened under the attention, turning in a slow circle again while stretching out to let Beth get a good look.
"Uh, question," Beth said then.
"What is it, sister?" Blood asked, eyebrow quirking and ears perking up.
"Where's your armor?" Beth asked.
Blood frowned a little and thought for just a second before looking down at herself, starting to pat her body. The vest and frost iron plates were gone; they hadn't been on the floor of the intermediary room nor teleported back with them into the array room.
"I don't know. It's gone!" Blood exclaimed, continuing to pat at herself while also sniffing at her body, as if to scent the missing armor.
"Weird thought, but is it on your wolf form?" Beth asked then. "How hard is it for you to change?"
"Oh, that's an idea!" Blood called happily. "It's not difficult at all."
The wolf then transformed just like that in the middle of the apartment. Beth had expected something out of a B-grade movie, with Blood getting all warped and twisted and the sounds of bones creaking, but the transformation was nothing like that. It took just under a second and Beth was likely only able to really see what happened thanks to her enhanced stats. A kind of glowing power wrapped around Blood and her form transformed over the course of just half a second before the glow faded and she was standing there in her lupine form.
"Well, that answers that," Beth said, referring to the armor reappearing on Blood's body. The wolf turned her head to the limit left and right before shrugging her shoulders to feel the armor. She then immediately transformed again, the glow of power surrounding her for just a moment before she was standing in her human form again. Once again, what she was wearing had stayed with her, as she was still dressed in one of Beth's extra CRA outfits.
"Alright, so we have some stuff to do," Beth said, sitting down on the sofa in the living room of the suite. "We need to get you some clothes, maybe get you a bag or pack of your own, get both of us new armor, and practice with our new skills/forms. Oh, and I should also call Aytasha and see if we can get you your own communicator."
"And food. We need to eat," Blood said, her stomach burbling as soon as she finished speaking.
"Hell yeah, that's what I like to hear," Beth replied with a laugh, throwing an arm around Blood when the lupine woman sat next to her on the couch. She then pulled up her communicator and called her one contact, asking Aytasha if she could bring a communicator for Blood. The angelic woman was delighted by the revelation that they had hit level one hundred and hurried over with a second communicator, which Blood took, the device absorbing into her hand as soon as she let a trickle of mana enter it.
"That's so weird," Blood grumbled, shaking her left hand. Aytasha then offered a handshake, which Blood accepted to get her contact information.
"There are a few other devices and boosting items that work like that," Aytasha explained. "Even with that, I do agree, it's always a bit of a weird experience."
"Thanks so much for all the help, Aytasha," Beth said warmly. "I really appreciate everything."
"No problem, I'm happy to help. Good job on reaching the halfway point, by the way. I knew you two would be able to put on a strong performance," she said.
"How many people don't manage to reach this point?" Beth asked.
"You'd really be surprised," Aytasha replied. "Sometimes we even get people who have been prepared and trained to be Wayfarers who don't make it past stage nine. Not to speak poorly of our Trial Takers, of course, but you might actually be surprised with how unprepared many people are."
"People really can't make it further than stage nine?" Blood asked, left ear flicking.
"Not everyone is as well trained and experienced as the two of you," Aytasha said. "Our average Trial Takers are rather young, as are you, but that means many of them lack either experience or training or both."
"Makes me feel kinda good," Blood said with a slightly feral smile.
"Yeah, yeah, we're awesome," Beth said with a roll of her eyes. "Anyways, thanks Aytasha. It's much appreciated."
"If there's anything else during your time here that you need, please just ask," she replied with a warm smile before leaving.
"Alright," Beth said after Aytasha had left. "It's time to do some shopping."
"What do we need, again?" Blood asked.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Much as you dislike it, you need clothes. You also need armor for your human form, and I need better armor for my human form. We should also get you a backpack or something," Beth replied, tapping her chin as she thought. "Then we need to hit the training room. We have to figure out just what these powers we just got can do. Also, we need to figure out what the drain on stamina is all about, including the part where I get exhausted and you don't…"
"I'm excited…for the shopping," Blood said, her ears drooping a little at the end. "The training, not so much."
"You know how important it is. Just think about what Aytasha just said, people can't even make it past stage nine!"
"Sure," Blood replied with a sigh.
"Shop first," Beth said.
She led the way out of the suite and to the main atrium, where they approached the counter on the left wall. It was manned by a woman at this time, someone Beth hadn't seen before, but she still approached casually. The woman gave both her and Blood a nod and a friendly smile.
"What can I help you with?" the woman asked in a polite voice.
"Well, first, we need some clothes," Beth said, jerking a thumb at Blood. "As I'm sure you can see. Then, we're going to need some armor, after which either a backpack or a storage item, depending on what you have and what the prices are."
"Certainly, I can easily help you with all that," the woman said, clearly in salesperson mode. "Let's start with the clothes; if you could step over here, please."
Blood stepped where the woman indicated, a platform even more advanced than the one Jaq used at the CRA scanning her dimensions. The woman noted the results on a screen, paging through them for a moment before disappearing into a cleverly concealed door in the wall. She returned a minute later with a stack of cloth in her arms that turned out to be three full outfits very similar to what Beth and Blood were wearing, only sized for Blood. The clothes also included pairs of socks, underwear, and bras that were sized for Blood's rather generous bosom.
Beth reached out and grabbed Blood's arm, just in time to prevent her from pulling her shirt off in the lobby. Blood looked at her with her brow scrunched and ears twitching, clearly not understanding what the issue was.
"We don't strip in public, Blood," Beth said with a slight frown, earning a scoff from the wolf woman, but she did let go of her shirt with a grunt.
"Now, armor," Beth said, still glaring at Blood for a second before turning back to look at the woman.
"Certainly. I see that you already have a set of equipment, including mana steel gauntlets and boots. What exactly are we looking to get?" the woman asked.
"I need new pants and a new chest piece, something mana steel equivalent or better. Blood needs the same, as well as boots that would fit with her claws and maybe gauntlets or gloves, depending on what she wants," Beth replied confidently, now in negotiation mode.
"We already have your measurements, so let me go ahead and start with armored chausses and chest pieces. Do you have a preference in terms of type; lamellar, laminar, scale mail, or perhaps even plate?"
"If you have any scale mail that isn't too heavy, we'd like to go with that first. Unless you want something different, Blood?" Beth said, turning to Blood at the end as her voice lilted up slightly.
"I don't know armor," the lupine woman said, shaking her head. "I guess I'll have to learn. I'll just try whatever you try."
"Excellent," said the saleswoman. "I'll retrieve a couple pieces with adaptive runes that are very close to your sizes. It's common when you buy from a shop to get something slightly big that can remold itself a little to fit, versus if you had a smith custom make gear to your exact size. I'll be right back."
The woman disappeared into the back and Beth turned to Blood, saying, "We have some time to burn. Why don't you run your clothes back to the room and change into one of the sets. It'd be better for trying on armor, anyway, to have your proper clothes on."
"Sure," Blood replied with a shrug before scooping up the pile of clothes and dashing off, Beth chuckling at her antics. She leaned against the counter and waited, not surprised when it was the saleswoman that returned first, carrying an assortment of armor in her arms. The stack of gear, which she laid out on the counter in a row, had to weigh four or five hundred pounds, but the woman didn't even look slightly winded from carrying it, thanks to the power of stats.
"Your companion abandon you?" the woman asked, softening the jab with a broad smile.
"I figured she should get out of my extra clothes and into one of the sets that would actually fit her," Beth replied with a shrug, pulling the first of two chest pieces the woman had set in front of her off the counter. She examined the piece, which was made of some kind of tough fabric, resembling silk a bit, that had been woven together in several layers and hardened with what appeared to be a resin. Rounded, slightly curved scales of a slightly blackened mana steel had been sown in rows to the reinforced "shirt," forming an armored top that would cover from the bottom of Beth's hips, so overlapping whatever pants or chausses she wore a bit, to the base of her neck, able to sit just on top of the bottom of her odd helm. There were sleeves as well, covering down to the elbow, and the armpit area had a few less scales to allow freedom of movement of the shoulder and arms. Beth removed her gauntlets and old armored top before pulling the first new top on, refastening her gauntlets afterwards to see how they fit.
"It looks quite good," the saleswoman commented as the top shrank a tiny amount to fit Beth perfectly.
"I don't care quite as much about looks as I do about it keeping me alive," Beth returned with a small chuckle, noting Blood returning to the counter as she twisted to check her range of motion.
"That looks good, sister," Blood said as she stopped beside Beth, admiring the armored top.
"Well, I'm glad everybody else likes it," Beth responded, grinning a little.
Blood had a very similar piece, which she pulled on over her new shirt, settling the scale mail in place with a few pats before stepping back. She stretched and then started to mimic Beth, twisting and moving to see how her range of motion was affected. The tops seemed both sturdy and flexible, not to mention they were actually fairly comfortable for armored pieces, and Beth was already quite happy with them. Still, she took off her gauntlets and the top before trying on the second top. It was similar to the first, though it was made of leather with larger wedges of mana steel stitched into it. Beth actually liked the weight and heft of it once she had it on, but it was less comfortable and limited her motion a little more than the first option. Blood had dutifully followed along and tried the second armored top and seemed rather taken with it.
"I like the first option more," Beth said as she removed the second top and set it to the side. "I think that's what I'll go with."
"I like this one," Blood said, pointing at herself.
"The chest piece you selected is six gold pieces, while your companion's is six and a half," the woman said promptly.
Beth shrugged before saying, "Good armor is expensive."
The two of them then moved on to the chausses, with the same options presented, one of silk and one of leather. Both girls tried on both pairs, with them sticking to their original likes, Beth picking the silk-like material while Blood liked the leather pieces. Beth put the silk pieces on after she was done with trying out the leather and re-secured her boots and gauntlets before setting aside her old armor. She could either give it to someone back home or even resell it to Jaq for at least a few silvers when they were done with the Trial.
"Alright, armor for me is done," she said. "Next, we have to find more pieces for Blood. She needs boots, gloves, and possibly a helmet. After we get her fully armored, we can see about maybe getting a backpack or spatial tool and some supplies."
"Certainly," the woman replied warmly. "What were we thinking on the boots and gloves, to start?"
"I don't know," Blood said helplessly, ears flopping while she frowned. "I just want something that fits. Is there anything like these armor pieces?"
"I can get a few options which include spacing for your claws," the woman replied with a chuckle before disappearing into the back again. Beth did a few stretches and tested her range of motion in her full kit while she waited, the other attendants ignoring her, though someone who had to be a trial taker gave her a strange look as he walked through the lobby into the array room.
The saleswoman returned after a minute with two pairs of boots and two pairs of gauntlets, setting them in a row before Blood on the counter. The boots were first, and both pairs were cleverly sculpted with extended areas in the toes providing extra space for claws. Beth picked the second pair up and examined them, noting the detail where Blood's toes would be that included the section sculpted to fit her claws. It gave Beth a little inspiration for her smithing, and she was eager to get back to the forge after they were finished with the trial.