Garret folded his clothes neatly together alongside his sword on the ground, he stood nude and smiled "Alright, lets get cleaned up shall we" with that he made his way to the water he then remebered that Gawain had rushed off somewhere else "Maybe I'll go join him" with that Garret walked off in the direction where Gawain had gone. As Garret walked he cold hear the sounds of someone moving around in the water "Must be Gawain, he must have gone in already" Garret took a quick wiff of himself and he almost retched at the smell of snakes blood and sweat mixed together. "Agh, Gawain was right, I smell like crap" all of a sudden Garret could swear he heard a giggle come from the direction he was heading. "That sounds like, a girl?" Garret listened closely, and sure enough he heard another giggle the was really feminine Garret was confused, why was he hearing a girls giggle.
The only one that should be here was Gawain, with curiousity in his head Garret walked faster when he saw Gawain's armor piled together on the bank he knew he was in the right place "Alright, he must be here then" at that moment Garret heard a gasp of shock coming from the water, he looked and what he saw caused him to go red in the face. As he stared at what was before him he mumbled incoherently, what he was looking at was what most men wish they could see, a naked girl, bathing in a spring, Garret was at a loss, the girl he was looking at was beautiful. Garret looked her over, she had bright blue eyes that were looking right at him, her face was red with embarassment, Garret's eyes wondered down, he saw the girl was covering her chest, the girls chest wasn't very big but they it was a moderate size for a girl who he assumed to be around his age.
Garret swallowed hard, the scene before him was one he only dreamed of happening, Garret decided to pinch himself to see if he wasn't dreaming when he shouted in pain he knew he was awake, and that meant the naked girl before him was real. His face flushed with red, Garret and the girl just stared at each other not saying a word, then he remebered something, he looked at the red armor laying in a pile on the bank next to him, the armor that belonged to Gawain, he looked back at the girl. His face contorted in shock and surprise, how didn't he notice it before, the girl had blue eyes, Gawain had blue eyes, Gawain had long messy blonde hair, the girl had long straight blonde hair the same length as Gawain's, and Gawain's red armor was sitting on the bank. Garret did about three double takes, looking from the pile of red armor and back at the girl in the water, "Ga..Gawain? Gawain is that you?" a shriek came from the girl which gave Garret his answer.
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Airi was red with embarassment, here she was naked, only covered by water, with a naked Garret looking right at her his face red, he could see his face grow a shocked experssion at the sight of her, she blushed when she saw that he was looking her over, she even saw him pinch himself. "Please, don't figure out I'm Gawain" but, Airi's please went unanswered as Garret had already spotted her armor laying on the bank, Airi cursed under her breath when Garret looked back at her with a look of surprise on his face. Airi started to scream mentaly, Garret looked back at her armor then back at her about three times, then came the question Airi was dreading, "Ga..Gawain? Gawain is that you?" Garret stuttered, Airi let out a shriek, Garret's face showed that's all he needed to confirm his question.
Airi sighed, this was all beause of her carelessness, she knew now she couldn't sidestep her way out of this, with that she rose out of the water, she could see Garret's face grow red the more she came out the water. She looked hard at Garret who was standing there waiting, Airi took a breath, she was about to talk like a guy but, she figured that wouldn't help at all she decided to use her real voice "Hey Garret" she chuckled nervously. Airi could see that Garret was internally screaming, "Uhm, Garret you okay?" Airi waved a hand to bring his foucus back, Garret shook his head "Ga..Gawain..its really you?" Airi sighed and nodded "Yeah, its me" Garret let out a shocked gasp. "Gawain! Your a girl!" Airi nodded "Yep, I'm a girl, sorry for decieving you this whole time" Garret was speechless.
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Garret was at a loss he stared at Gawain, he thought Gawain was a guy because of his armor yet, there he was or should he say she was, standing in the water of the spring, covering her body the best she could, that only made Garret's face grow hot and red. Garret chuckled, it all made sense now, why he heard a girls scream before he met Gawain being chased by the snake, and why Gawain was much shorter when he saw him up close it was that Gawain was a girl. He scrathced his cheek, he chuckled nervously, "Well, I, I see, so your actually a girl" Garret caught himself lookig at Gawain's chest, he looked away quick, "Uhm, your not going to kill me now are you?" Garret shivered "What? Why would I do that?" came Gawain's response "Oh, I don't know, I've heard tales of girls that dressed and acted like men, and when their identity was found out they killed the person who did" he heard a girlish giggle come from Gawain. "Calm down Garret, I'm not going to kill you, besides, it's my fault for not coming clean about my true gender" Garret felt a wave of relief wash over him.
Garret coughed nervously, "Well, thanks, you know, this is a real shock to the brain" Gawain chuckled "I know, look I'll give you an explanation later" Garret didn't look back at Gawain but he nodded "Alright, well then, I'm going to go over there now" with that Garret walked away, all be it a bit oddly.
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When Airi saw that Garret had walked out of sight she sighed deeply, she lowered herself back into the water, "Great, now I have to give him a explantion for this" Airi shouted in frustration, what was she going to do now. What was she going to tell Garret, again she couldn't tell him the real truth, theres no way he'd believe her, "Come on Airi, think" Airi sat in the spring water and thought hard on what she could tell Garret the reason she hid her gender. Then a thought came to mind, "Backstory" Airi whispered the word, a smile came to her face, she could use the backstory she had created for Gawain just slightly altered. Airi then set upon rehersing what she was going to say, once she had it down pat she decided it was time to get out of the water, Airi rose out the water and walked over to the bank.
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Airi lifted herself out the spring and walked over to her pile of armor, when she bent down to pick it up she found that the armor weighted a ton, she fell back as she tried to lift her curiass she rubbed her behind and groaned. The weight of the curiass could only mean one thing, while she had been washing off the Weightless Potion had worn off, "Great" she grumbled, now what she going to do, she had no more Weightless Potions on hand, and she needed something to ware she couldn't go and talk to Garret buck naked. Airi then spotted her pack, "Maybe I have something in here" Airi open her pack and rummaged through it, she stopped when her hand went over something, she pulled the object out, she looked hard at what she had in her hand it was a brown leather tunic, around the collar were white strings to close the collar. Airi recognized the tunic, it was one of the rewards she had gotten from her first dozen quests.
"Am I glad all my Elder Quest stuff is here" Airi placed the tunic down, it was nice and all, but it didn't look very protective she then rummaged through her pack once more, this time she pulled out what looked to be a white robe, "I'm not big on magic" she placed the robe with the tunic. Airi contiued to go through her pack, after several minuets she had a huge pile of different clothes and armor next to her she sighed, "Why can't I find anything good?" Airi went back to looking then she pulled out something that caught her eye. It was a red sleeveless leather jacket looking piece of clothing, it was thick like the tunic but soft to the touch, she placed the jacket to the side and reached in her pack and pulled out a white collard shirt. The shirt was soft to the touch and it felt almost like it had a warmth to it, it had a feather design going down from the collar the design had a red tint to it. Airi started to get excited, she placed the shirt with the jacket and reached back into her pack.
Airi pulled out a pair of black gloves, the gloves felt like they had been made by a master craftsman as the leather was so soft and course that Airi thought they were made of fur, the stiching they had was seamless, not a stitch was out of place. She added that with the other thing she pulled out, the next thing she pulled out was a pair of black leather pants just like the gloves she had pulled out they were made masterfully as well. Without hesitation Airi placed it with the other things, the very last thing Airi pulled out was a pair of dark brown boots, the toes had a metal plate on the front, the was a zipper on the sides of the boots. On the front a red jewel was affixed to the boot inside a socket that was melded to the leather of the boots Airi smiled she looked at the pile of amazing clothing she had pulled out "This is all amazing".
Airi had never really gotten to look through all what she had gotten as rewards for her quests she had finsished, she never knew she had such amazing looking armor, Airi then looked to the red armor laying on the ground in a pile. The red armor was Gawain's symbol, everyone in Elder Tales knew him just by his armor, Airi felt bad but, the armor wouldn't do her any good if she couldn't move in it. With a heavy heart, Airi decided it was time to change Gawain's armor. Airi gathered the equipment she had pulled out, she took a bit of time to get it all on but when she did she looked herself over. "Wow, this all goes together so well" Airi had put the soft as feathers whit shirt on and ontop that she put the sleeveless red jacket. She left the jacket open enough to where the feather decal on the white shirt could be seen, she pulled on the black gloves to make sure they were fitted comfertably on her hands.
She had tucked the back of the white shirt inside the black leather a pants, the front flowed down out from under her jacket. The black leather pants were a bit tight, it squeezed Airi's thighs and buttox, the leather pants made her curves pop out more, Airi looked down at the dark brown boots and tapped her foot on the ground. The red jems attached to the leather shined when a ray of light hit them Airi smiled "Alright, I'm all suited up" Airi then took one last look at the red armor laying on the ground, she felt a bit sad, she had decided that she had to leave the red armor where it was as there was no way for her to pick it up and put it in her pack. "I'm sorry, you served me well when this was all a game, but now" she took a breath "I no longer have use for you in this world" Airi stood still and just stared at the armor.
After that Airi decided it was time to go meet Garret, she bowed to the red armor, she took hold of her new sword, while she was dressing Airi figured the sword that Gawain used was too heavy for her so in midst of that she went through her pack until she pulled out a weapon that she could hold up. What she had pulled out was a sword with a slim blade, the gaurd was gold and int the shape of a flower, the handel was covered in a dark red gemstone, and coming off the pommel was a long red string looped through a ring attached to it. The sword was light in Airi's hands, it was like the sword had no weight to it at all she sheated the new sword at her side a medium sized leather strap went around her waist and it was what kept the sword sheat from falling to the ground.
Airi was now ready, she had new equipment, she had a new weapon, her pack was affixted to the left side of her waist, she was prepared, she was prepared to start making her way around this world she was in but first, she had to go and tell Garret the story she had rehearsed for hours on end "Alright, lets do this" with that Airi made her way to find Garret. [Ch. 7 END]