The fluffy thing that sounded like thunder was—whatever Caprice had called her cat. I was, apparently, sandwiched between said cat and the back of the couch. I tried to stretch, only to find it wasn't going to be possible without getting away from the cat first.

Squirming, I had to shove and push to get my head out far enough to see, and when I did I spotted Caprice laying on top of the cat, fast asleep. Well, now I had a dilemma. I could shove… Cuddles! I remembered its name. Okay, well, that didn't help that if I pushed Cuddles far enough that I could get more of myself out, it'd probably knock Caprice down.

"You win." I kept my voice low and sank back down. The cat's purring was way more relaxing than it had any right to be. I let my mind wander and tried to make sense of the freaky dream. Was it Dusky—or my subconscious—trying to reassure me? Trying to tell me to just go with it?

Well, trying to look like a guy wasn't going to work—my effort last night made that obvious. So what else was there? Enjoy being a girl? Well, I mean, at most I think I could just be indifferent to it. What was it Dusky had said—half-Elf. Of course!

Dusky Rose was a half-Elf. She might not be as long-lived as an Elf (like Espy), but she would still live far longer than a human. Okay, so that was a double-edged sword. Yay, I get to live a lot longer than I thought. Boo, I'll probably need more money than I have right now if I just wanted to ignore work and plow through life living on my savings.

Not. Going. To. Happen. I'd get leveled up, make more money, maybe find some other people. In the meantime, if Molls finds a way to get me home again, I'll take it. Right now I'll put up with being pinned down by this huge cat, though.

I yawned and, before I realized it, I'd blinked into and out of sleep. It felt like barely a heartbeat between the two moments, but the press of Cuddles was far less now and light was shining on my closed eyelids. When I opened them, it was to see the snout of a kobold looking down at me. "Caprice?"

"I worked out how to make Cuddles smaller. It means he can be even cuter—and cheaper to feed." The remaining weight on my belly lifted and I watched Caprice pick up what looked like a cat the size of a medium-sized dog. "Isn't he the cutest!"

What remained of my masculinity wanted to reject the idea, but he'd been so warm and friendly overnight—even if being pinned down hadn't been what I wanted at the time—that I couldn't deny that the big fuzzball was kinda cool. And cute. "Yeah. What time is it?"

"Time to be getting up. Lunch rush will be here in a few hours, and we need to get the drinks ready as well as help Jules with getting things ready for the midday meal. Well, you do. Caprice needs to finish washing all the bed-things and getting all the rooms aired out and the fireplaces ready for the evening." Caprice set the big cat down on the couch beside me.

Scrabbling to get up before Cuddles managed to get on top of me again, I reached a hand out and rubbed his ears in apology. "Sorry, Cuddles, I need to work, apparently."

"Yeah you do, if you want to learn how to do this." Chloe came down the stairs from above wearing an apron that covered her front and wearing a skirt that didn't do much that her fur didn't already. In all, it seemed to mostly be clothes designed to give her what little modesty her fur didn't while also protecting her fluffy coat from stains. "Come and see how I mix the grog, mid-beer, and we can make sure the ale hasn't been tampered with."

"Tampered with?" I asked.

Rolling her eyes, Chloe nodded. "Yeah. Get some work clothes on and come with me."

Caprice squealed with excitement and grabbed my arm. The clothes she wound up dressing me in (I swear she sees me as a big doll she gets to play dress-ups with) were similar to what I'd seen Jules wearing—ankle-length skirt, off-white shirt that seemed a little puffy around my arms and with a scooped neckline that showed off my boobs.

Okay, so I've got boobs. Crushing them down with wrappings seems like a really bad idea, though this outfit seems to push them up and together—which doesn't seem so bad. Bouncing on my toes, I realize that they move a lot more than they would with my corset-thing and robes.

"Is Dusky checking herself out?"

"N—" I couldn't do it. Caprice was too much of a friend and too much of a help to lie to outright. "Kinda. This is looser than the corset-shirt, but seems to show them off a lot more."

Giggling with a little hiss thrown in, Caprice stepped around behind me and hugged me around my middle. "Come to the mirror. You can't see the effect properly from there." She would have picked me up and carried me over if I hadn't actually walked—so I did.

I almost did a double-take. The half-elf in the mirror was gorgeous. She didn't seem short, but that's because I was short, but everything else she had going on. I'm not a complete idiot—I know that's me—but it just startled me how hot she looked. How I looked.

"Dusky is sexy—in a not-kobold way. Come on, Jules will be upset if she thinks you're slacking."

Jules, when we got downstairs, didn't say a word about what I was wearing. It took a moment for my brain to catch up to the fact that she was wearing the same thing. Okay, so this was standard clothing for a barmaid. Good to know. "Reporting for duty, ma'am!" I snapped off what was probably a terrible salute.

"Come down to the basement. If you're going to learn to work here, you need to know about the kegs and bottles." Jules led the way to a trapdoor and down a ladder into the basement. Having brought a lamp with her, she hung it on a hook on a beam and walked over to the huge barrels that lay on their sides. "These are the ale kegs. They get kept down here because it stays cold, but doesn't freeze. Also, enchanted seals on them stop the contents from turning. We fill the kegs upstairs from these."

Walking around each of the kegs, Jules touched the seal on five of the six big kegs. The sixth had a broken seal that had a tap in its place. She touched that and chuckled. "Okay, no one's messed with any of them. The seals get warm when they're broken, damaged, or bypassed, and I had a hair carefully pressed over this tap handle. Go and get the empty kegs from up top."

I went back and climbed the ladder back up to find Chloe stacking two barrels beside the hatch. "These are to be filled?" I asked.

"Sure are. You wait down there and catch them as I drop them down." When I just stared at her, she rolled her eyes. "They're not that heavy, Dusky."

Climbing back down, I watched as Chloe held the first over the hole. "How heavy are they again?"

"If they were full, you'd be pounded a few feet into the ground. Relax, Dusky. Catch!" Chloe's words didn't reassure me at all, but I didn't have much time to contemplate what she meant because there was a barrel about half the size of me coming down.

Bracing my knees partly bent, I grabbed the barrel and felt my body compress to catch it. She was right—it was lighter than it looked. "Got it!" As I turned, Jules was already waiting to take it from my arms. "Oh, here you go."

No sooner had I passed off the barrel than Chloe called, "Here comes the next one!"

There was no time to think, Barrels came flying down for me to catch and I'd stack them for Jules to fill. Of course, we moved the barrels faster than they'd fill, so there was a stack waiting for Jules.

"Okay, this is the first one to go back up. See that shelf there? It's a lift to get them back up." Jules rolled the first barrel to the shelf and then grabbed the rope beside it. "Go on, you get this one up and I'll show you how to pour these off on the next one."

So she showed me how to pour the ale from the big barrels to the little ones. How to stopper the small barrels and then how to use a hair to tag the tap so we'd know if anyone used it. I was surprised—after filling the last barrel myself—at getting a rush of feeling and a notification.

> Congratulations on reaching level 2 Barmaid!

Alright, so I had a side of me that just enjoyed watching numbers go up, but this was interesting. "I just leveled up Barmaid."

"'Leveled up'? Oh, this is the thing Chloe was telling me about. Well, take a break if you want, but we're not done yet." Jules didn't sound annoyed, just resigned. I guess work never ends at this kinda place.

I shrugged and helped heave the last barrel onto the lift before heading upstairs to the taproom. There was a strange sensation just from standing there. I looked around the room and realized I knew the prices of everything. Tables, mugs, ale, dresses, stools, barrels—I just knew how much they were each worth. "Okay, let's see what's doing this."

It wasn't hard to put two and two together and figure out it was a passive skill from Barmaid. Focusing on my spellbook, I drew it out and started flicking through until I reached my tradeskill. Barmaid, okay, now to check the skills there and.

> Appraise: Identify the base value of most common goods.

Well, that'd do it. Okay, so what else?

> Brew Potion (drink): Create drinks that not only offer a range of benefits but also taste good.

That actually shocked me. Brew Potion was literally the thing Alchemists got. It was their defining ability. Now I find out barmaids get it too? Is it restricted just to drinks, though? It was an active skill set, which means I had to use it while making something—I couldn't just have everything I make come out tasting like wine.

> Cooking (lesser): Create delicious, simple meals with minor stat bonuses.

That sounded almost as good as Brew Potion, though the (lesser) part made me worry that it wasn't going to be anything amazing.

> General Stat Boost (light labor): A scaling bonus to strength, stamina, and dexterity.

Shame there was no wisdom in that to boost the effects of my heals, but I'll take anything at this point. That this was an NPC-only Trade Class was obvious—there was no balancing in it at all. I wonder what other badly balanced classes and skills are out there just waiting to be picked up?

Another thing that bugged me was how the Trade Class was built. It literally gave me all the skills at level 2 rather than 1. I couldn't see what was coming, but it seemed like I had everything I needed to be a Barmaid already.

"I think I have a handle on this. So, what are we doing next?" I asked.

Jules nodded toward the kegs we'd brought up, and one in particular. "I'm going to teach you how to tap a keg without making a mess, how to pour ale and spirits, and then Chloe will teach you waitressing."

That led to a day of work. I hadn't worked like this since a part time job in high school, but surrounded with friends and with XP rolling in, it felt less like work and more like just having fun. Fun where I had to clean tables, glasses, mugs, bars, and remember lists of things.

Lunch was quiet. A few people came in, but Jules dealt with them before anyone else could get close, but dinner was something else. One minute to the next saw around thirty people come through the front door. They were workers and guards for the most part, and all of them were thirsty and hungry.

"Just make sure to sell anything at least fifty percent more than it's worth, and you'll be fine. If anyone tries to haggle with you, get me." Jules' advice was solid, given I could now work out the prices for anything I looked at.

So we started serving. I poured so many ales and served so many bowls of stew I was starting to wonder if it would ever stop. The original thirty or so had eaten and migrated to the bar while a pile more people came in and sat at tables to have food.

Jules told me to stay at the bar because things would be easier there, but even still some people wanted to eat sitting up on stools and I was constantly pouring drinks for Caprice and Chloe to carry around to tables.

There was no time to think about things more complex than getting the next drink poured or working out what someone's cocktail would cost, but when a bard struck up a tune, almost everyone at the bar migrated over to the couches to relax and listen to her.

It was a moment of reprieve. People were still calling up for drinks, but the pace had slowed and I could take a moment here or there to enjoy the music myself.

The bard was a human who had a sword at her hip and some kind of old-timey guitar she was playing. The songs she played were definitely not songs the game would have had in it—most were full of bad innuendo and sex jokes.

While she sang of two men her alternately kept dropping things and picking them up or taking advantage of the other while they were bent over, her eyes met mine and I gasped at how pretty she looked. Her eyes were a soft green that seemed to sparkle, her hair was a deep auburn, and the clothes she wore were obviously designed to not only allow her easy movement but also to push her chest up while showing off her cleavage.

My breath caught in my throat and I couldn't look away. Her green eyes held mine and wouldn't let go. I was only peripherally aware of the song she was playing, and when it finished it was like a spell ended and I could breathe again.

"I'll be right back in a few minutes," the bard said. When her crowd sounded upset, she cocked her hip to one side and rolled her eyes. "Can't a lady wet her whistle? You darlin's know I'll lose my voice if I don't get somethin' to drink."

I'd never seen her before, never heard her before, but as she walked over to the bar I was behind—her leather-clad hips swaying—I felt my heart beating faster. "W-What can I get you?"

"Small ale and a pair of sweet lips." She was a tall human, which meant when she leaned across the bar, and I froze, she had no trouble hooking one arm around behind me to pull me closer.

Her lips were so soft, and though I was stunned for a moment, I soon picked up on what music she was playing. My eyes fluttered closed and I relaxed against her—returning the kiss.

By the time she broke away, my body felt like butter. I was soft and squidgy and she could have done anything to me right then and I'd have just let out happy little gasps. "Hey, and how about warm bed for the night?"

By brain fuzzed out more, but I'd spent so long working at the bar today that my hands were on auto. Pouring a mug a third full of water and then topping up with ale. How much do I charge her? I knew the amount exactly, but a giggly voice in the back of my head told me to pay for it myself. "H-Here you go."

One of those big green eyes winked at me and she turned—mug in hand—to return to the end of the tavern where she'd been playing music.

"She your type, Dusky?" Chloe sounded amused. "Can't blame you, if girls are your thing. Not enough fur on her, though. In case you were wondering, bards get free drinks of ale, otherwise that would have come out of your wages."

At mention of wages I snapped out of my daze and turned to Chloe. "Wages? I'm getting paid?"

"Sure you are. You think Jules would work you without pay? You're not up to full speed, but you handled the bar well tonight, and I heard a lot of patrons talking about buying more drinks to have an excuse to come up here and look at you." Giving me a wide, toothy grin, Chloe nodded toward the crowd around the bard. "You sure made an impression on all of them."

That reminded me of what I was wearing. I looked down and saw my breasts—well, my cleavage—and I knew why they'd been interested. Dusky Rose was hot as hell. She wasn't overly stacked or thick, but she had a nice cleavage and curves in the right places. The corset holding my chest up helped, too. "Haven't they seen a half-elf before?"

Chloe shook her head. "Probably not. Most probably just thought you were a gifted human. Elves aren't common this far north."

"Just so I'm sure, when she said she wanted a warm bed for the night…?"

"She means your bed, Dusky. I would have jumped in to deflect her if you hadn't looked so into her." Leaning forward, Chloe pressed her fuzzy snout to one of my ears. "Do you need a full description of what she plans to do, or would jump your bones be enough?"

I nodded slowly, my eyes drifting down the tavern to land on the bard again. That's when it hit me. "What's her name?"

"Gloria Windsong." Picking up a tray of dirty mugs and glasses, Chloe tilted her head slightly when she looked at me. "Would you have even thought to ask before morning?"

That's when my nerves broke and I breathed out a sigh of relief. No more tension. "Maybe. Would it matter if I didn't?" I looked at Chloe questioningly.

"Huh. Probably not. Just make sure to keep your valuables safe. You wouldn't be the first adventurer to have a purse lifted by the hands attached to a pretty face." With that, Chloe walked off to the kitchen with the tray.

The patrons slowly drifted out—heading home or upstairs to their rooms. As the last few got up to leave, the bard stood and stretched. Damn but she stretched. Walking over to the bar, she had a confident smile that made tingles run up and down my spine. "Thanks for the drink, cutie."

"Dusky Rose," I said as I took her empty mug.

"Gloria Windsong. About the bed—if you're not interested, just tell me. I was laying on the charm earlier, but I should have—"

I interrupted her by jumping up, reaching out for her shoulders and kissing her. Or at least I hoped that's how it would go. I actually slipped a little, pulled her up onto the bar and found myself leaning over her. Well, now wasn't the time to show myself for being clumsy. I leaned down and kissed her.

Her eyes were wide a moment, but they softened and her arms pulled me against her a bit tighter. I could feel where our bodies touched—mostly our chests—and it surprised me by how good that felt. Shivering, I broke the kiss. "So long as my friend hasn't crawled into my bed already, I think we'll be fine."

"Your friend sleeps with you? By the gods, I should travel this far north more often. Are they cute?" Her voice sounded like she was poking fun, but also with a hint of curiosity. I'd been with girls in high school as well as the abortive attempt I'd made at college—flirting wasn't too foreign to me.

Reaching a hand down, I brought it to her hip and slowly moved it upward along her side. "Close friend. She calls me a nest-mate. I think it means sister to Kobolds."

"Oh? That adorable little scale-kin I saw?" Gloria wore a sly smile. "How long until you're done here?"

Footsteps coming from the kitchen had me looking around to see Jules. "She's just getting off work now. I'll add your pay to that stash you left with me."

"Guess that means it's time for some fun?" The way Gloria said it made my belly tighten. My body was unceremoniously dragging me back to reality, or at least this reality, and telling me I was still a girl.

Hold up. I'm a girl. She was checking out me. Me as a girl.

"You okay, Dusky?" Gloria sounded genuinely concerned. "If you're not into this, I can just—"

"I'm fine. I mean… Let's go upstairs and I'll maybe explain why I'm a bit nervous." Walking around the bar, I was met by Gloria who put her arm around my hip as we both walked to the stairs. "It has—It was a kinda magic mix-up."

"Well, now I'm horny and curious. What happened?" At the top of the stairs she paused while I aimed us in the right direction.

"Would you believe that just a week ago I was a guy?" As soon as the words left my lips she stopped. Dammit. Had I gone too far in telling her? What else would have explained what was going to be my first time as a girl?

"Really? Don't lie to me."

"Yeah. Really. Jules, Chloe, Caprice… They've all been super-awesome helping me adjust. I guess I—" My words were cut short by soft lips again, though they didn't last long. "Wha—?"

"So I'm your first time as a woman?" If I thought Gloria's eyes were intense before, they were practically on fire now. "Dusky, I hope you can get out of that dress fast, otherwise I'm going to tear it off you."

I barely managed to reach out for my door when we reached it before she was pushing me through it with one hand while the other was slipping into the cleavage of my dress. All I could think was that maybe she wasn't joking about the dress.

----------------------------------------

The warm body beside me in the bed wasn't Caprice. Soft swells pressed against my back, a warm thigh draped over my hip, and—and it had been both awkward and exciting. Being a woman was different to being a guy, but I won't say it is worse or better.

Gloria's arm pulled tight and pinned me against her. "You want to go again?"

The answer—my answer—was too easy to give. "Yeah."

"Then—"

----------------------------------------

Morning light was about to start streaming in. I could see a gentle glow in the window that told me false-dawn was in progress. Gloria was still spooning me—or rather she was spooning me again. I'd never had so much sex before. I wasn't sore, exactly, but I felt like a warm bath was definitely something I required.

Gently trying to slip from her grip, I utterly failed in getting out of Gloria's clutches without waking her. The first I knew was her lips pressed to my neck, then she asked, "Where are you going?"

"Bath. You wouldn't believe how great it is here." Angling my head, I brought my lips down the middle of her face—kissing her brow, nose, and finally lips. Well, I got kinda distracted on that last bit, we both did, and it took probably another twenty minutes to feel relaxed enough to get up and grab up the bathrobes that had been hung just inside the door.

"These weren't here last night." Gloria slipped the robe over her body and looked over at me. "Let me guess, your friend?"

"Caprice is a master of stealth and laundry." I don't know why, but I felt more confident. Sharper, more alive, and less concerned about what had happened between my legs. Well, what had happened between my legs a few days ago. What happened last night and earlier was—I was okay with what we'd done.

Crowding behind me—close enough I could feel her breasts against my back—Gloria reached around and opened the door. "Lead on, the— Let me guess, Caprice?"

Standing in the doorway, looking at us with a surprised smile (but definitely a smile), Caprice nodded. "Found bathrobes Caprice left? Good. Follow Caprice." She turned and started to walk down the hall, her tail waving side to side.

She knew exactly where we'd intended to go. I had been worried she'd, well, thought of her and me as something romantic. Where I come from, sleeping in the same bed—naked—with someone meant you were into them. Family didn't do that. Well, not in my state.

"Thank you, Caprice. That was most thoughtful." Gloria was walking a little apart from me. Was she detecting something in Caprice's actions that I wasn't? Was Caprice actually angry with me?

Looking back over her shoulder, I got the impression that Caprice had no cares at all—but I knew looks could be deceiving, and I was a novice at any psychological games they might be playing. "Caprice not know your name, sorry?"

That's when it hit me that there were no nametags above people's heads. Had they been there when I'd first arrived?

"Gloria Windsong, bard extraordinaire and explorer of exotic places."

Wait. Hold up. That last bit… Am I an exotic place? I mean, half-elves were scarce here, but surely they were more common in southern zones—err, areas. And "areas", was she talking about my—

"Dusky?" Caprice broke me out of my stunned confusion. She was holding the door of the bathroom open for me with a more playful grin on her snout. "Are you coming?"

Suck it up, genius. Either she's messing with you more—and you deserve it—or she's that innocent. I took the few steps needed to get into the bathroom and was caught off guard as Gloria was lowering herself into the tub.

Okay, big advantage to being a woman—no badly-timed boners. I walked up the steps, slid my bathrobe off, and slipped into the water a moment before Caprice joined us.

"Is what Dusky said true?" Gloria asked—looking at Caprice. "About being a guy."

"Caprice hasn't seen Dusky as a male, but Caprice is sure she was. Caprice is also not surprised Dusky wanted women instead of men." Grabbing a handful of sand from a little bucket, Caprice started rubbing it into her arm.

"Boy did she. Knew her way around me, too, which I appreciate. Too many guys just want to put their dick in a bit and then leave. It's why I have to ask"—turning to face me, Gloria smirked—"where do you come from? I'm heading there next if you're an example of what the men are like."

"That's going to be hard," I said, wondering how much I should tell her. I mean, not that I'm thinking with my dick (which I definitely don't have), but I kinda trust her to not screw me over—not that I can think of any way for her to screw me over with the information. "I come from a different world."

Gloria paused in her washing, her hair hanging limp in her hand. She looked from me to Caprice, then back to me. "No shit? Well, that's a problem for my quest to find a guy who isn't an arsehole."

It was odd. Was society here so backwards about sex that guys didn't think about their partners at all? I mean, I liked to get off—even as a guy—but it's just better when you're both getting off together. Wait, did I miss something?

"Gloria! How could you! Caprice was teaching Dusky to be such a nice and attentive girl. One night with you and she all distracted!" Turning to face me, her snout pulled into a big grin, Caprice lifted one huge hand out of the water and set a digit against my chest—just north of my boobs. "Dusky, Caprice want to know if you like men as well?"

"Wha—?" How much had they spoken while I was thinking about getting off?

"If she liked women before, she still does now. Right?" Dunking her head into the water, Gloria lifted her face back out and winked at me.

They were both having fun at my expense. I couldn't exactly complain, though. Caprice was just about the nicest person I knew, and had helped me hold my head together for days now. Gloria was—is—hot as hell and apparently pretty cool too.

The way Gloria talks about finding a man and traveling, I think, is partly to make me not try to latch onto her. Well, I wanted to latch on, but I could totally get that she's her own person. "Only ever been with girls my whole life."

"Ah, ha!" Caprice pointed her finger at Gloria now. "So Dusky hasn't tried men yet. You haven't despoiled her for all time!"

"I don't want to try men, Caprice." I reached out and tried to close my hand around her wrist, but the bone and muscle there was just too thick for me to manage it. I pulled her hand down to the water regardless. "Gloria—Sorry for talking about you like you're not here, but I ain't gonna lie about this. You made me feel good about me, physically, for the first time since I appeared here. I liked how you made me feel."

"Bam!" Gloria pumped her fist. "There you go. Girls are best, Caprice. I win!"

"Hrmph. Caprice still prefer male Kobolds."

That was the first I'd heard about her preferences or tastes on the matter.

I must have been staring at her, because Caprice looked at me with dawning curiosity. "You should try Kobold male. They have lots of prickly bits and a bulb and it—"

Reaching out, I put a hand on Caprice's shoulder to stop her from going into more details than would fit in my next nightmare. One thing was for sure, Caprice wasn't trying to sleep with me in the metaphorical sense and physical sense. "I'd really rather not know."

That's when it hit me that Gloria was bi. She's been with guys as well as girls, or so she implied, but did that mean anything to me? I mean, all the girls I'd been with back home had been with other guys too. Definitely none of my business then.

None of my business slid around the tub and put her arm around my shoulders. "Don't sweat it, Dusky, most guys will take a no as a no. Wait, hold up, Dusky is definitely a girl's name. What was your name when you were a guy?"

That was actually touching. I breathed out a sigh and let the simple comfort of an arm around me help me say it. "Harper Davis."

Gloria made a curious little humming sound. "Well, Harper, you make for a cute girl and are a real dynamo in the bedroom. You really focused on me, and I appreciate that."

I was more than a little stunned. It was without a doubt the most glowing review of sex I'd ever heard—not that I'd heard a lot, but still! Maybe my calling in life wasn't to be a pro-streamer or gamer. I was born reborn to be the best damn lesbian in the world!

It was impossible to stop myself. I let out a giggle and leaned against Gloria.

"Cuddly for a guy, too. Are you sure you haven't been learning any tricks since becoming a girl?" Gloria seemed only too happy to snuggle me against her side. I'd never been intimidated by tough girls, I certainly wasn't going to turn down a cuddle with one now when I felt like they were doing me so much good.

"Caprice has been teaching Dusky to snuggle more. Even Cuddles has helped." At mention of her huge pet, I groaned—with a smile. "Dusky, what are you doing today? More adventuring?"

"Wait. You're an adventurer?" Sad day, Gloria pulled away from me and stared at me in shock. "I thought you were just—"

"A Barmaid? That's what Dusky do for trade. She a Healer. Best Healer, too." Caprice looked smug. "And Caprice a Beastmaster. Big kitty cat go roar and then snuggles." As if to remind me how cute she was, Caprice gave a little nod, as if to affirm everything was fact. "So, we go beat things up today?"

"Yeah, I think we will. You all got a lot of new things to do, and we need to adjust our party dynamic. Taffy will be taking all the heat now, which means she needs to be confident that she can take the hits and that the things she's tanking will go down." As I spoke, Caprice was nodding along, but Gloria looked completely lost. "Uh, we're changing our formation tactics. It's kinda another language unless you know what it's all about."

"Sexy, cute, and damn smart? Girl, you've got it all going on, don't you?" Snuggling up beside me again, Gloria gave me another squeeze before pushing me forward and up, then she slid under me. "Now let me work on that hair of yours. How you keep it so silky smooth I'll never know, but it's going to need some work to stay that way."

Practically slumping in place as her hands started to work through my hair, I completely lost track of what we were talking about for a few moments. "I—That feels good."

"I could do something that feels better, but I think Caprice would get jealous." Working cascades of water through my hair with one hand, Gloria continued.

Right. No foreplay unless we're actually going to have sex again, and like she said, that would be a bit much with Caprice watching. "I think we should have breakfast and see if the others want to go out. We should probably ask Jules if she needs any help from us today."

Caprice, meanwhile, had a wide grin on her snout. "Will be busy later on. Maybe only have a half-day of adventuring? You already got all the barrels filled for the week. There's not much else we need to do to get ready for the evening rush."

GM-Molly:-

Hey, Dusky, how's things going on your end? I think I'm going a little crazy.

The backwards words were confusing at first, but I managed to figure it out and focused on composing a reply.

Dusky Rose:-

You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Molls. What's news?

GM-Molly:-

This is kinda freaky, but I think I'm not alone. There's others out here with me, but I don't think they're GMs.

Dusky Rose:-

So what are they?

GM-Molly:-

Would you think I was crazy if I said they're gods?

Well, normally I would, but lately my limits of "that's crazy talk" has been modified.

Dusky Rose:-

Not in the least. I can do magic now. A few gods zooming around isn't too much of a stretch. Let me guess, they line up with the gods of Shadowverse?

GM-Molly:-

No clue yet. It was kinda hard to get a feel for them, but there's a whole bunch of them. I think they're curious about me, too. Is it just me, Dusky, or is this world a lot more real than it used to be?

My mind wandered to the bard washing my hair while I sat naked between her legs.

Dusky Rose:-

You don't know the half of it, Molls. I got a level in Healer yesterday. And a level in Barmaid.

I was so not going to tell her about Gloria. Nope.

GM-Molly:-

Keep working at that. If nothing else, I know grinding out levels is one thing you're great at. How are things going with the NPCs? Are they acting a little different?

Did she know? Gah. What would she say if she knew I'd—Stop it, Dusky, don't call them NPCs. That's not a nice way to think of anyone who's as alive as they seem to be.

Dusky Rose:-

They're alive, Molls. Like, really-really alive. They're not just NPCs anymore.

GM-Molly:-

If you say so, I'll believe it. I'll try to make contact with these "gods" and work out where I stand with them. Stay safe, Dusky.

Dusky Rose:-

You too, Molls.

"… talking to a friend. It works like some kind of telepathy, Caprice thinks. Really sneaky, except she goes all stiff and stares blankly while doing it—so you know she's doing it," Caprice said. "Oh, look, she's done now. What happened with Dusky's friend?"

"Molly is dealing with a lot right now. I don't think I follow all of it." With my back to Gloria, I widened my eyes and then winked to Caprice. I didn't have a poker face, but I didn't need it since I wasn't looking at the woman behind me.

"So you're heading out adventuring for the day? Are you coming back tonight?" Gloria's arms closed around me and she pulled me back against her so her chest was pressed to my back firmly. Had she just changed conversation because she knew I didn't want to talk about Molly? I mean, she had to be curious about that.

"Julia said she'd skin Caprice and make boots out of her if we skipped either of the two busiest nights of the week." Standing up, Caprice began climbing from the water. "If Caprice want to go on adventure, all morning work needs to be done."

As she climbed out, I watched the water sluice off Caprice's gleaming scales. The sand had, apparently, really buffed them up to a bright shine. When Caprice grabbed a bathrobe and slipped out of the room, I felt Gloria nibbling at my left ear—not the lobe, the tip.

A shudder ran all the way from my ear down my spine to my rump and back up again. I squirmed and twisted, but her arms around me kept my ear within reach of her nibbling. I started whining, but she didn't stop until I gasped.

"Are you okay? It wasn't too much was it?" Gloria asked.

Panting, getting my breathing under control, I managed to shake my head slowly. It was actually the most sexual thing I'd ever felt where someone had completely and utterly not touched me anywhere intimately below the neck. "They're really sensitive."

"I'll remember that for tonight." Her lips touched my ear again, but she only sucked a little rather than nibbling.

I could deal with that and started to relax. "Tonight?"

She licked the ear, something that felt almost-but-not-quite as intense as the nibbling—enough to make me squirm a little for sure. "I'm not going anywhere until tomorrow, so if you don't mind me warming myself in your bed again…?"

"Sure. I woul—" I moaned. I actually moaned out loud because I was halfway through saying something when she licked my ear-tip again.

----------------------------------------

When we were done with our bath—which wasn't too much longer, but involved me making more noises than I'd ever heard a girl make before—I was clean and relaxed. I grabbed my bathrobe and we headed back to my room where our clothes were laid out, already washed.

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"You have no idea how amazing Caprice is. She's the most kind-hearted girl I've ever met." I picked up my underthings and shucked out of the bathrobe. Having Gloria's head snap around to look at me the moment the robe was off surprised me. Her staring, oddly, wasn't uncomfortable—not given the surprised smile she wore. I had to do it—I had to ask, "Like what you see?"

Nodding slowly, Gloria kept her own robe wrapped around her. "If I take this off, I might just pounce on you—again. It's going to be hard to get my business done today with the memory of you in my head, adding more sex on that will leave me squirming all the way through to tonight."

It was different, that's for sure. I'd had girls look at me with hunger in their eyes, but this felt very different. Not bad, just different. Definitely not bad. I grabbed up my underwear and started getting dressed. No sooner did I have clothes on than Gloria got out of her bathrobe and started to get dressed too. Her body was different to mine. Her breasts were bigger, her hips a little more curvy, and her eyes flashed brightly where mine were more soft.

Was it wrong that I felt sexy? Was it wrong that I enjoyed it? I'm sure a shrink back on Earth would have a field day with all my feelings, but for me—right here and now—I had to let them be. Fighting who I was and what I was, I'd learned, was dangerous. When I pulled my robes around me and they again seemed to change to show off my cleavage and hips, I didn't fight against it.

Okay, maybe I railed against it a little. It was just a little demeaning that I couldn't wear anything and not have it turn into the sexiest version of the outfit.

Tightening the belt on my healer's robes, I looked around and spotted my staff leaning against the wall. That was a bit odd. What happened to my magical inventory? Didn't I put my staff in there?

"Wow. You really are a healer. Cute robes, by the way." Gloria was in the process of getting her leather pants on. I had to admire the amount of effort she took to get into them and wear them well. "I could get you a pair of your own if you want."

I shook my head to clear the image from it. Besides, healers don't wear leather pants—we don't have the proficiency. "I'm fine just looking at you wearing them."

Somehow we both got dressed without jumping each other's bones again and headed downstairs. Chloe, Yaff, and Taffy were chatting at a table. Their conversation halted the moment they noticed me. "Good morning," I said, and made my way over to the table.

Taffy looked from me to just behind me (where I assumed Gloria was) and blushed. "Caprice said you wanted to get some adventuring in today?"

"I'll leave you to your fun. Don't get too beat up, Dusky," Gloria said on her way out of the tavern, giving me a wink and a wave. Seeing her leave was almost as wonderful as seeing her get dressed.

"Dusky hit that?" I heard Yaff ask.

Chloe, when I turned to look at the three, was nodding. "Yeah. Really loosened her up, too, from what Caprice said. Look at how relaxed she—Oh. Now she's blushing."

"It was just—" Why was I trying to explain this to them? Right, because they're my friends and will mercilessly rib me about it unless I just tell them. "It felt good to be me and in this body."

"I bet it did." Grinning, her hand flicking a dagger around idly, Yaff gestured at the seat beside her. "We were just getting some breakfast. So, how do you think we'll go with our new classes?"

Note to self, thank Yaff for that change of topic. "Right. We have some changes to work around, and some of us have changed roles, but I think the tactics we discussed will hold. We can adapt things as each of us gets new abilities, but otherwise we have Taffy tanking, Chloe as main assist picking targets for you, Yaff, and Caprice's DPS pet. I'll keep everyone going with heals and buffs. If we get too many monsters, leave them rooted with Yaff's traps and try to pick just one. If there's a lot of little monsters, just let Taffy heal herself a few times and start pouring on any AoE you have. If you need to off-tank, let Caprice's pet take the first and then Chloe can pick up the rest."

Just days ago none of them would have understood a word I'd just said. Instead of incomprehension, I got firm nods from each of them, and I'm sure Caprice would have as well.

"I mean, if healing makes so much agro, can I just do that rather than hit things?" Taffy snapped her fingers and a blast of healing magic radiated out from her. I didn't have any actual injuries, but just being bathed in that magic felt nice.

I watched Caprice leave the kitchen with a line of bowls up each of her arms. Waiting for her to get closer, I started my reply, "Yeah, that'll work so long as someone is hurt. I guess I can hold off healing you for a bit. I'm just worried that I can't easily keep track of how hurt you are."

"We can always test that," Yaff said. "Not with my backstab, obviously, but something that only does small amounts of damage."

Taffy looked back at Yaff and paused for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, that's the best way I can think of. What about your Quick Strike?"

Balancing a knife on the tip of one paw-pad, Yaff nodded. "I can do that. Not here, though. We don't want to make a mess."

"You got that right. If you make mess, Caprice not cleaning it up." Setting our drinks down and sitting with us, Caprice tilted her head side to side as if stretching a little. "What were you planning?"

Chloe gave Caprice a quick catch-up while the rest of us enjoyed some breakfast. Caprice was quick on the uptake, thankfully, and was enjoying her own breakfast in no time at all. As we all ate, I realized how relaxed we all were discussing going into combat. There was still excitement, but there was no fear at all.

When we were all done with eating and drinking, a silence hung over the table. Closing my eyes, I focused on what was to come and stood up. "Let's move out."

When I opened my eyes again, I fought with the interface that was and wasn't there to reform the group and hire the girls again. It worked, thankfully. We practically jumped over each other to get away from the table, Chloe, Caprice, and myself carrying the plates and mugs to the kitchen.

After last night, it was simply force of habit to do that. Still, it was all XP for my Barmaid class.

"So, is everyone ready? Caprice is! Summon Nature's Ally!" When the huge cat appeared, Caprice jumped up onto its back and started petting it. "Who's a good kitty-kins? You are!"

"Are you going to ride them around everywhere?" Chloe asked as we walked toward the guardhouse where I'd gotten the quests before.

"Uh, hi!" I looked at the seven-foot-tall woman in heavy armor that stood at the gate and felt more than a little intimidated. "Do you have anything for a party of adventurers to do?"

"The caves to the east have been overrun by hobgoblins. If you can clear them out and kill their king, it'd be great." The ways she spoke was wooden and—typically—a similar voice that Trelkin had used to give us quests.

"Thanks. Hey, my name's Dusky."

The guard blinked rapidly a few times and then shook her head. "Axebright Sorgirsdottir." She thrust a huge hand out toward me.

It occurred to me that she might not have even had more than the quest lines before the moment I'd decided to speak to her. Or that's what it felt like. I took her hand and shook it. "Thanks, Axebright. Anything we should look out for with those hobgoblins?"

"Yeah. Watch out for their weapons. They dip their blades in muck and scum, which leaves them causing sickness and poisoning." She seemed to be looking around as if she just woke up from a daze. "And, uh, their shaman can do this confusion spell that makes it hard to focus—you wind up attacking your own friends half the time."

It was kinda weird. When I first joined the game, the first thing I did was toss on my newbie gear and start hunting other players. I got my quests from the Assassins' Guild or back-alley cutthroats. Hobgoblins and frost wolves were outside of my experience—until now.

"Thanks for the heads up." Chloe reached back for her big sword as she walked past the guard and drew it with a long, smooth motion. "If you ever want a good drink or meal, head over to the Lame Hog Tavern."

We all left the guard and headed off in the direction she'd pointed. It felt good to be out again—walking through the forest with friends I could trust in a fight. Caprice, to no one's surprise, literally rode on her cat's back.

"We've got two humanoids down the path the way we're going. They're waiting just off to the side—probably lookouts." Yaff's voice sounded amused. "I put down some traps around them. Snares and roots—don't want them running off to call in friends."

"Great work. You want to wait on the far side of them while we come at them in a pincer?" Chloe rolled her shoulders and tested the weight of her sword.

Appearing from thin air, Yaff shrugged. "Or I could lead you around to the other side of them? You might be a bit noisy for that."

Tapping her chin, Caprice walked up to Yaff. "Caprice could send Cuddles with you. She's quiet and will keep you company."

"Yeah, I like that idea better than sending you off to ambush them on your own, Yaff. Take Cuddles and let her take the agro, if there is any." Her decision made, Chloe looked over at Taffy. "You good to get this on?"

Taffy reached her shield arm out to me and wrapped it around my shoulder in a hug. "Dusky, you ready?"

After a night of sex with another woman, I had to work hard not to take the hug as more than it was intended. "Yeah. Let me buff up first. It will give me a few moments in case this runs bad." So, standing there with a steel-clad Valkyrie hugging my shoulder, I cast my two buffs. "Enhance Constitution, Bless."

"Oh! Caprice should do that too. Boost Ferocity, Enhance Weapons." To cast the first spell, Caprice reached out with her staff and booped the tiger on the nose with it. How did a Kobold manage to get this adorable? It was insane—and the cutest thing I've ever seen. "Now, go with Yaff. Be quiet and if you see her getting attacked, or she shouts for help, you protect her. Okay, Cuddles?"

The big cat nodded, made a raspy meow noise, then turned and looked at Yaff expectantly.

Of course Caprice can talk to animals—she's a Beastmaster. "Then we're good."

"You'll probably hear us when we engage with them, Yaff," Chloe said. "Come on, ladies, let's get stuck in."

Chloe led the way along the road. We tried to look as small and unimposing as possible, but with two Martial types that was basically impossible. The biggest worry was they'd run the moment they saw us, but it turned out not to matter.

The first thing that hit me was the smell—dirty and moldy. I shivered as the huge goblins stepped out from behind a tree. One was already drawing back on a bow and I had barely a second to guess what was coming before something slammed into my shoulder and almost spun me around.

It had shot me. Me! I tried to focus on casting a heal or anything, but the second one was drawing their own bow. Unable to think past the pain and shock, I huddled up—feeling the wooden shaft of the arrow stuck through me.

"Absorb Threat! Blast of Life!" Taffy's shout sounded furious. She'd stepped between me and the archer, but what had all my attention right then was my shoulder.

The arrow just kinda evaporated away and the pain faded quickly. It was insane how good healing was here—even my robes no longer had a hole in them.

"Incinerate!" Caprice shouted. She didn't need to use offensive magic now she was a pet class, but even from behind Taffy I thought Caprice sounded pissed off.

Stomping footfalls raced past me and I barely caught a glance of Chloe as she charged into the fight. "War Shout! No one beats up on Dusky!"

I could barely follow the fight. The sound of swords crashing together was followed by screams of pain from the hobgoblins. I'd heard Yaff shout some of her own attacks and more focused fighting from Taffy and Caprice too.

Gritting my teeth, I shook my head and tried to get my bearings. Taffy, Chloe, and Cuddles were standing over two bodies on the ground while Yaff was looking over their belongings. I walked over only to have a Kobold glomp onto me.

"Caprice was so shocked! Is Dusky okay?"

It was lucky the pain was gone from my shoulder or a crushing hug from Caprice would have hurt much worse. At least, that's what I tried to tell myself while I hugged her back. "Y-Yeah." The truth was that I really wasn't okay. The pain and shock of being shot had been so sudden and real that it had completely blanked out all my thinking. I'd been a wreck.

"No you're not." The growl in Chloe's voice pulled my attention to her. "Caprice, keep hugging Dusky for a bit. Yaff, look around and make sure we're safe here. We have some things to talk about.

"You're soft. I didn't realize it before, but you're not used to, well, getting hurt. Must have been a nice place you came from." Chloe didn't sound angry or disappointed, if anything she sounded wistful. "But you need to get over that and get used to taking a hit every now and again. You had so many things you could have done, but the pain blinded you."

What could I say? She was right. "Yeah. My world is—My world is pretty safe. Not counting other people, you only really got hurt if you went out looking to get hurt." Admitting it was kinda strange. Was I less of a man for saying I was soft—even if I wasn't a man at all now?

"So we need to toughen you up a little. Hey, don't look so down. It will hurt, but I think a little boxing will help you. Caprice, I think Dusky's feeling better now. Right, Dusky?" Chloe asked.

"Y-Yeah," I said, not feeling a lot better. Most of my physical shock—since the damage the arrow caused had been cured—was now mental. It was kinda freaky to even be able to acknowledge that. Taking a deeper breath, I tried to sort things out and reassure Chloe. "I can keep going."

"No." Taffy looked me in the eyes. "I can't keep up healing on my own, and if you get hit and lock up again, we'll all die. Chloe's right, we need to toughen you up and get you used to getting hit."

I froze at that, mostly because it was the one thing I was terrified of. Would I respawn here? Would Chloe, Caprice, Taffy, and Yaff? I wanted to keep going, but I had to face the reality that I was a weak link in this party.

A strong arm wrapped around me and pulled me into a hug. "Caprice will do whatever Dusky wants to, but she thinks you should listen to friends."

Trapped in the grip of a Kobold barnacle, I looked from Taffy to Chloe. They both looked serious, and who could blame them. If I stopped healing, they'd be the first two to go down. Ugh, it sucked so much because I know they're right. If I ever teamed up with any healer in an MMOG, how good they are at healing when the shit hits the fan is the most important aspect of them.

"Okay." Every day, it seemed, robbed me of "manhood" that I no longer even felt was important. Hell, where was all my aggression from PvP? "So let's do that then. What do you think will help?"

And that started a pile-on-the-half-elf hugfest. Even Chloe put an arm around me and squeezed. It was Taffy who eventually pointed out that we were in hobgoblin-patrolled areas. The walk back to the tavern felt like the worst defeat ever.

When we got inside, however, it was like coming home again. Caprice and Chloe disappeared and returned in their work outfits, and Yaff told us she was going to get some work done. That left me and Taffy.

"Have you ever punched someone before?" Taffy asked as she started slipping her armor off.

"Uh, not—well, kinda. In high school I got in a few fights, but it was more just shoving." What should I do? Take off my robes? I wasn't exactly wearing anything underneath. "Should I get into something else too?"

"Huh? Nah. Your robes are fine. I just don't want you hurting your knuckles punching my plate. Okay, so we'll start with the basics here. Make a fist." While she unbuckled a greave, from her left leg, I held up my right hand and made a fist. "First thing, thumb out. There you go. Now clench just a bit tighter and keep your wrist as stiff as you can make it."

I followed her directions, unsure where she'd learned all this. Eventually I had to ask. "Uh, where'd you learn all this stuff?"

"You think a little girl grows up in her father's shop—safe and never in a fight—and wants to become an adventurer?" Taffy might have been laying it on a bit thick, but I could see her point. "I got in fights when I was six—arguing with a boy who tried to tell me that girls can't be adventurers. Look at my nose, Dusky."

Doing as asked, I realized it was slightly bent to the left—and the tip to the right.

"Eventually I learned to keep my guard up. Okay, punch my hand." Taffy held up her hand, palm out, elbow bent slightly.

So I tried to punch her hand. I wish I could say that her arm moved even an inch, but the fact was I felt like I'd hit her with a wet noodle. So I hit her again.

"Hold up. You're hitting with this part of your arm"—Taffy reached out and rubbed my elbow down to my wrist—"where you need to be using just about everything else. A punch is a driving movement that comes all the way through you. Later I'll teach you how to jab, but for now I want you to not just punch my hand, but follow through."

Following her instructions, I was soon throwing my shoulder and arm forward, planting my foot forward, and driving my fist into her palm. Each time I did it better I could feel my body remembering these motions. My—or rather Dusky's—arms weren't weak and were built up a little to do this kind of thing.

So, with that sorted and me able to swing a punch to Taffy's satisfaction, she nodded to the door. "Come on, let's go wail on each other."

My heart started thumping and, following her on autopilot, I tried to square away the punching she'd shown me with—with actually hitting her.

"Okay, Dusky, punch me. Aim wherever you want, but put everything you've got into it."

The snow under my feet got my full attention for a moment.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I don't want to hurt you." My words earned a snort. "Really. What if I—Punches hurt."

"And we both can heal any real pain away." And that's when Taffy surprised me by punching me in the shoulder. I guess it wasn't super hard, but it shocked me at the pain that lanced through my flesh—and then was gone a moment later when she said, "Blast of Life."

It left me blinking in surprise. The pain was there and gone. I looked at my shoulder and tried to summon my will. Bringing my arm back, I threw a punch at Taffy's shoulder. My fist connected with a wall of flesh and bone that put an ache into my knuckles—causing me to swear.

Taffy let out a whoop of excitement. "That's it! Now I'll hit you again, and you heal yourself, got it?"

"Yea—" I barely got half the word out before her fist came at me. It connected with the same shoulder—harder than the first—and left me hissing through my clenched teeth.

"Heal yourself, Dusky, and the pain will be gone."

I barely managed to utter the words, "Weak Heal", but the moment I did the pain was gone. Completely gone.

"Great, now hit me again. Fair's fair, if I punch you, you get to—"

Hitting Taffy's other shoulder was how I imagined punching steel would be, only maybe a little harder. Armor? Ha! "For being the one punching, my fist is sore."

"Don't worry, Dusky, you can just heal it in a moment." She was already drawing her shoulder back.

That's when it hit me—well, a moment before her first did—that she wasn't healing her own wounds. I know I probably sucked at punching, but they were still landing. Pain blossomed again, but this time I used a different spell. "Group Channel Life."

Taffy laughed and rolled her shoulder as if my blows had hurt. "Nice one, thanks. Your turn again—unless you want to try freestyling?"

"You mean just punching each other like we're fighting?" I asked.

"Yeah. See how much we can take before we need a heal. What you think?" She bounced on her feet a little, clearly having fun.

Well, I mean, it was a bit of fun. I'd never really learned this kinda thing before. It was kinda like sports, and like she'd said (and proved), there was no lasting hurt from it. "Sure. Your heal should be up again, right?"

"Yeah, but the point is to get you using your heals while taking a pummeling." Taffy threw a punch at me that I realized wasn't meant to hit me, but I still flinched from it—right into her left-punch.

She hadn't aimed for my shoulder this time, instead connecting with my ribs in a way that really hurt. The pain throbbed there, but I strained to keep myself focused—and failed.

Falling to the snow, I grabbed at my side and let out a long—clenched-jawed—groan. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt…

"Blast of Life." The pain vanished as fast as it had come. "I felt a bone crunch then. That's kinda the next step. It's an ongoing pain, and if you break a limb bone you'll also be stuck with a part of yourself that doesn't work."

The pain was gone, but my pride was still wounded. Looking up, I took Taffy's hand and let her haul me back to my feet. "Again," I said.

"What?"

"I said, punch me like that again." I'd gone crazy, apparently, because now I wanted her to do it and needed her to do it. "A broken bone is nothing. I shouldn't be wiped out by that."

"Well, let me show you how to block before we get too carried away."

I got hurt a lot, and given I got Taffy to use her heal a few times, I think I managed to score a few good hits. If we counted broken bones—she won by a landslide. In all my years on Earth I'd never broken so much as a pinkie finger, but in the four hours between the start of our little rumble to lunch time, I lost count of the amount of ribs, fingers, and even a collarbone that had buckled under the pressure of Taffy's fists.

The only times we paused were for heals, and I found myself fighting against the need for them as long as I could—and then I healed myself and Taffy. We'd just called it quits and both let off a heal at the same time when I spotted Caprice standing at the corner of the tavern building.

"It's time for lunch. Come in out of this cold." Caprice looked between us, and I wondered if she was going to say something more before she spun around and marched back toward the doors.

When Caprice was out of earshot, Taffy sighed. "She saw us before we healed. Your nose was bleeding pretty bad."

I glanced down at the snow and realized there was a fair bit of blood there. "Is all that mine?"

"What? Nah. That one time you got my jaw I spat a bit of blood out before I realized I should heal so I don't lose a tooth. C'mon, let's go get something to eat."

Leaving the mess in the snow, I walked beside Taffy around the tavern and to the main door. Slipping inside after her, I realized Caprice, Chloe, and Jules all focused on me. "I'm okay."

"Look," Taffy said, "we both roughed each other up good and proper, and I think she's definitely on the way toward being a hard-ass, but we've both been casting heals all morning and I think we need food."

Walking over to Caprice, I felt I owed her an explanation and an apology. For the second I reached out and pulled her into a hug that she quickly responded to by wrapping her arms around me. "I needed to do that. I need to train myself that a little hit isn't the end of the world."

"That was more than little. There was blood everywhere." Caprice looked up into my eyes. "I know we said you need to get used to it, but did it take that much?"

I squeezed her again and then let go to sit down at the table. "It'll probably take more." I resisted the urge to surrender to Caprice's angry look. "All I learned so far was that if I get punched in the face, I might be able to snap off a heal a few seconds later. I can now honestly say there's a big difference between getting punched and getting shot with an arrow."

"Caprice not let Taffy shoot you with bow!" Turning and glaring at Taffy, Caprice stuck her tongue out.

"Calm down," I said, trying to get Caprice to sit down again. "There is no way I'm letting anyone shoot me with arrows."

"Besides, I have a better idea." Chloe tapped a claw on the table, making a surprisingly loud thunk sound. "A few more days of sparring with Taffy, and I want you to be able to cast between her punches, and then you can go back to the easier area and try it with Caprice to keep watch over you."

The twisting of her logic didn't make sense. "Wha—?"

Taffy brightened up and beat her fist on the table with excitement. "Ah. That'd work. None of those nasties were all that strong, and it would mean Dusky gets some real-world experience with an opponent that doesn't pause and let her get her breath."

"Yeah, but how do I hurt anything? I get that I need to be able to take hits, but it will be silly if I can't hit back," I said.

"Idiot," Taffy said. "What did we just spend hours doing?"

That's when it hit me. "I'd punch them to death?"

"Unless you can think of a better way." Taffy shrugged and leaned back. "Might take you a while, punching goblins isn't really that effective, but you have your heals, and if anything happens you can ask Caprice for help."

I looked from Taffy to Caprice and saw her determined expression. Well, this was a thing. Punching monsters was a thing martial artists could do, but they had all kinds of buffs that made their fists count as weapons. "Guess I'll be going out to punch monsters, then."

Chloe shook her head, her fuzzy fur swishing side to side. It was easy to forget sometimes that she was literally naked save for that fur, but it did such a great job of concealing her. "No. Not until you can cast while being punched."

Slumping a little, I let out a sigh of defeat. "Isn't it supposed to get busy again tonight?" Change of topic!

"It will be. Do you want to stick around and work?" Chloe asked me.

"Yeah, if you don't mind. I want to level up Barmaid and see what cool stuff I can do with it." The idea of tradeskilling was still strange. For the girls it was literally their jobs. "Hey, do you know what level you are in it?"

Shrugging, Chloe stood up from the table. "I have no idea how to check all that, but we should get started if we don't want to still be running around when the customers start rolling in."

With the decision made, I headed upstairs and into my room to put on my uniform. It was a dress—something I still wasn't completely used to—but it wasn't as bad as I would have thought. I was just slipping out of my robes when Caprice slipped in.

She marched right up to me and punched me in the arm. Compared to what I'd been through already, it seemed so much less now, though I knew she was still upset.

"What's up?" I sat down on my bed in only my underwear while Caprice just stood there and glared at me. "If you don't tell me, I won't know."

"Caprice was worried." She clamped her mouth closed after that and turned to grab up my barmaid dress from where it hung on the back of the door.

Trying to avoid Caprice, when she came at me with the dress, would have been both impossible and silly. I moved my arms as she directed and let her get the thing on me and fastened it up the back.

"Dusky is blushing."

I groaned. "Yes. I mean, I don't know about here, but guys didn't just wear dresses back home. The worst bit is it's comfortable."

Caprice blinked her big eyes and looked at me as if I'd said something silly. "Well, of course they're comfortable. You think any of us would wear them if they weren't? Silly Dusky." And that's when I heard something that told me things might be back to normal—Caprice laughed.

Her voice was relaxing to hear, raised in laughter. I looked at myself in the mirror and again had to remember that this was me. The top part of the dress gave my chest a bit of lift and showed my cleavage off to anyone who might want to look down from my face. Should I be upset with that? I mean, it was part of what got Gloria's attention.

There were perks, at least. "Okay, what are we doing first?"

"The rooms are all booked for tonight, so Dusky is helping Caprice get them all aired out, the fires set, and the beds made fresh."

I stared at her for a moment. "But downstairs is—"

Caprice fixed me with a glare that told me I should be very careful with my words.

Okay, so I had no choice. There was no way I'd disobey Caprice, and it was still leveling up Barmaid, right? "Just show me what to do."

----------------------------------------

What to do had involved so many little details that the day had wound into night before we were done. When at last we had the last bed turned down and the fireplace loaded with split wood, I could already hear singing from downstairs—Gloria's voice.

"Dusky really likes her?"

Caprice's question made me think, which made me realize I knew basically nothing about Gloria Windsong. "I liked her in bed. She looks great and is fun, but I don't really know enough about her to say I like her."

Giggling, Caprice nodded to that. "Just like enough to get slit wet."

I'd like to say I had an articulate and witty reply to her that made me look less like an easy lay, but Caprice was right. "Guess that was something I needed right now."

Reaching up to my face, Caprice booped me with one of her big fingers. "So long as Dusky had fun."

I put an arm around her shoulders and walked beside her. "It was fun, and I'm sure tonight will be, too. So, who are all these rooms for, anyway?"

"There's a delegation of Dwarves who always stay here when passing through." Walking to the linen closet, Caprice opened the door and tossed her bundle of sheets inside.

It was a reminder that this was a fantasy world first and foremost. Yeah, there was a lot of furry types up this far north, but down in the middle kingdom there was a more traditional humans/Elves/Dwarves mix.

"So, uh, what are we doing now?" I asked.

"Now we go downstairs and help the others get the main meals served and run the bar or tables." Closing the linen closet, Caprice led the way to the stairs and we headed down into the noisy and busy taproom.

Behind the bar, Jules spotted us and a relieved smile split her face. She gestured to us and we made our way through the busy room. Every single table had people sitting at it, as well as a group sitting over in front of the stage where Gloria was playing, and more still sitting in the fireplace couches. This was the absolute most busy I'd seen the place.

"You two have the best timing. I have to get the meal finished. Dusky, can you run the bar while Caprice starts taking orders?" Jules tossed her barcloth to me. "I don't know how we managed without you, Dusky."

Catching the cloth, I stepped around behind the bar. "Anything I need to know?"

"Most everyone is just drinking our pale ale, the Dwarven contingent is taking a shot of whiskey in theirs. If anyone at the bar wants food, just get Caprice to bring their order in. You got this." Jules gave me a pat on the shoulder and left me behind the bar.

The drinks flowed well, and I took a few orders for food. The Dwarves had steadily asked for more and more whiskey in their drinks until there was no more ale in them at all. It was shocking to see people able to knock back mugs of that stuff, but they really were everything fantasy games said they were.

Meals were brought out by Chloe and Caprice, the two rushing around and setting bowls, plates, and utensils for everyone. Gloria's voice got louder just after the meals stopped pouring out, and it was like a migration as half the taproom got up in ones and twos and walked over to sit closer to the stage.

Everyone started to nurse their drinks, which meant my job became easier. I just finished the latest round for the Dwarves—which was short at least three of their members because they'd passed out—when Jules came out with a bowl of stew and a hunk of bread with piping hot cheese melted onto it.

"Thanks," I said, immediately reaching for the bread to get something into my stomach.

"Hey, it's mutual. Apparently someone invited the local guards to come over tonight on top of the usual busy room and the Dwarven booking." Her tone was full of sarcasm, and I found myself grinning along with Jules. "I heard wind of the training you're doing. You know, if the girls get too excited about all this, you can just tell them to shove it in a pipe."

Snorting, I gulped down the hunk of melting cheese and toasted bread. "Nah. I need to do this to get better at adventuring. There's no point being a healer unless you can take a hit or two and keep healing. Did they tell you what happened earlier?"

I hadn't realized we had an audience, but there was a pair of Dwarves standing at the bar listening to us, as well as what looked like one of the guards who was turned toward us. "Anyone need a topup?" I asked.

"Ey. You got a good 'ead on yer shoulders. There's more t' healin' than wavin' a stick around and keeping everyone standin'. If'n yer people are moving forward, you need to move forward—an' lass, forward ain't the safest place t' be." The Dwarf's voice was deep and gravely, but given he'd probably chugged about half a dozen mugs of straight whiskey—on top of the ale-whiskey mix he'd been drinking earlier—I was a little surprised he could talk. "Another round o' four, thank ya."

Reaching for four mugs, I started pouring the whiskey into the first while snugging them up to each other so I could just keep pouring. "I'm kinda new at this—err, the adventuring thing. We were out hunting hobgoblins, when one shot me with an arrow. The shock of it was unbelievable—I just crumpled and couldn't stand up."

"An' what're ya doin' about it?" the Dwarf asked.

Grabbing a second bottle (because the first ran out halfway through the third mug), I uncorked it and started pouring. "A friend has offered to beat the stuffing out of me until I can cast a spell as easy as I can get hit."

"Ha! A good friend that. They let you 'ave some swings too?" I could swear the mug he'd just sipped from was full a moment before, but now it was half empty. Knowing exactly how much he'd drunk and how much a refill was, I topped his mug up and earned a big smile from him.

"You bet. Taffy has some healing too, so we could wail away and break bones and crack ribs without a problem. I think I'm getting better, but I want to be able to cast while getting hit, or there's no point."

The Dwarf scattered a handful of gold coins on the bar as he took his own drink and a second. "Hold ont' that, lass. Ya serve up a good drink and a better story. C'mon——" The word he said was complete gibberish to me, somewhere between a growl and a grunt. The other Dwarf grabbed up the two remaining mugs and the pair carried them back to their table.

"You know, Dusky, if you make friends with Dwarves, you'll have someone who will move mountains as a favor. Nice tip, by the way." Jules scooped up the coins and moved some change from the the "register" to our tip jar.

My ability to judge the worth of things extended to coins, which is how I knew that the Dwarven coins had about fifty percent more value than our local ones of similar size. Nibbling at another bite of the bread, I shrugged my shoulders. "Where I was staying before was kinda lonely. It was just me living alone, even if I kinda talked to a lot of people each day. This is—I think I enjoy being with friends and doing this."

It was the honest truth and it made me really take notice of it. This was better than my old job. I didn't get to spend my days playing computer games—well, I kinda do—but my friends are supportive and I don't have to constantly dance for their amusement.

Movement from the corner of my eyes caught my attention and I turned to see amazing hips swaying, a chest heaving, and a pair of eyes locked on me as if I was a mouse in a trap. Gloria made her way up to the bar and reached out to grab a piece of my bread. "Can I get something strong and short?"

It was pure flirting. I was shorter than her, and I liked to think I was strong. Reaching under the counter I grabbed a short glass and set it on the bar. Turning to the array of bottles on the shelf, I tried to let my newfound skill as a Barmaid pick for me. Without realizing what I'd done, I grabbed two bottles. The first I tipped into the glass and half filled it, the second I grabbed a small flat metal plate about the size of a spoon, set it into the glass, and poured the alcohol inside against it so the two were layered. "There you go."

Gloria barked a laugh and picked it up. Her eyes were locked on mine as she brought the glass to her lips then tipped it back with one motion. "You make a good blind night, Dusky, I'll give you that." She turned and reminded me why watching her walk away was a spectator sport.

"You didn't tell me you could mix drinks, Dusky. What other talents are you hiding?" Jules, thankfully, poured the remaining customer an ale while I got to attack my dinner a little more.

"I didn't know either. I just kinda ran with what felt right. Guess Barmaid is a more useful Trade Class than I figured. I wonder if that drink had any buffs on it?" I swapped to using a spoon on the stew, the flavors exploding in my mouth and leaving me almost melting at how good it was. That's when it hit me—Jules must be a high level Barmaid. Her food was amazing and she made her own drinks here. "This is really good. Thanks, Jules."

Taking a coin from the patron, Jules turned to me with a smile. "You're welcome, Dusky. I wish every new puppy Caprice brought home proved to be as good at fitting in as you." Her eyes flicked to the fireplace where a huge cat was laying against two patrons—stopping them from being able to move. "She can send it back to the spirit realm it came from, can't she?"

Now that was putting me in a bind. I liked seeing Caprice happy and bouncy, and Cuddles the tiger made her both of those things. Jules, however, had given me a place to stay, a place to work, and taught me how to make a living doing something that was surprisingly enjoyable. "I can't answer that on grounds that it might incriminate me."

"What?" Jules asked in a curious and surprised tone.

"I mean I don't want to sell Caprice out and I don't want to lie to you." To stop myself saying more, I tore a big hunk of bread off with my comparatively smaller mouth and started working at chewing it enough to swallow.

"Safe answer, but you told me what I needed to know." We both looked over at the cat just in time to see one of the people it was laying against start to pet it. I could hear the purring from the bar. "Huh, well, I guess if everyone gets used to it, it won't be a big problem."

It was resignation. Or maybe Jules was as much of a sucker for Caprice's perkiness as I was and she was looking for an excuse. Either way, it looks like Cuddles was going to spend some time in the taproom.

Focusing on eating my meal, Jules handled the bar and we both listened to Gloria playing at the far end of the room. But the meals got finished, glasses and mugs too, and many people started leaving from one of Gloria's songs to the next.

I watched, distracted, as the Dwarves helped each other up the stairs while Caprice rushed over to help and guide them.

Chloe looked completely beat as she staggered out of the kitchen and over to the bar. "Got all the dishes cleaned and drying, Jules. Hey, Dusky, how'd things go for you tonight?"

"Smooth. Got some nice tips for us and kept everyone drinking." Lifting up a glass of water, I drained half of it in one go. The night had been busy, when all was said and done. I liked the challenge and talking to people. Some of them, I'd noticed, liked looking down from my face a lot more than talking to me—they were easy to ignore and move to someone who'd look me in the eyes.

It was odd to experience all this, and if I had a chance to go back with all this knowledge or just go right back to where I'd been before I came here, I think I'd like to keep all this. And, in that moment of introspection, I had a message window pop up.

GM-Molly:-

Hey, Dusky, hope I'm not interrupting anything?

It was a still tiring to read the text backwards. Not that I couldn't, just that after the day I'd had, reading at all wasn't high on my list of things I was doing.

Dusky Rose:-

Nope. Just finishing up work after a busy night. How're things going at your end?

GM-Molly:-

Have you ever accidentally skipped like two meals in a row and just not felt hungry? I've been like that for days, Dusky, days! Ugh, and now I'm thinking about it, I'm suddenly hungry again. I bet you got something nice to eat and no, I don't want to know.

By the sound of things, she wasn't handling it well. Did I acknowledge it or move on?

Dusky Rose:-

If I could hug you, Molls, I would.

GM-Molly:-

Thanks, Dusky. It actually means a lot. So I made contact with some of the "gods". I don't even know what I'm doing with them, Dusky. Most of them are nice, but I get this vibe a few are only acting nice until they can work out if they can kill me or something. I never had much to do with that side of the lore.

The lore of this world was a little lost on me. The few quests I ever did were mostly click-through-first-option type things that I never read. I figured Molly would know it all better.

Dusky Rose:-

You don't know who they all are?

GM-Molly:-

Nope. My job was getting newbies unstuck, remember? Making sure nothing stops new wallets from getting hooked. I mean, I can figure out the giant spider chick isn't someone I really want to be besties with, but some of the others seem more interested in making me join them in their cause than actually working out how to get out of this mess.

What have you been up to?

Dusky Rose:-

You wouldn't believe it if I told you.

GM-Molly:-

Try me.

Dusky Rose:-

Today I got shot, learned to fistfight, broke a lot of bones, and worked in a tavern for the fun of it.

GM-Molly:-

Welp, you were right. Trying to fit in or just going native?

Going native? I had no clue what she was talking about.

Dusky Rose:-

Just enjoying it, ya know? Living on Earth was… I felt a bit like a clown performing for people's amusement. Here I have real friends and nice people who like me without me having to give them a shout-out on my stream.

GM-Molly:-

Going native. I can dig it. Hey, one of the others gave me a neat idea. Since I seem to be with the gods here, maybe you can pray to me? Might work like a GM petition.

It wasn't just crazy, it was insane. But… If it worked and it let Molly help me—

Dusky Rose:-

I'll try. Uh, I might be busy tonight.

GM-Molly:-

Busy? At night? Oooooo!

Dusky Rose:-

I am so not going to explain this to you.

GM-Molly:-

I don't need the details…

But I'd like them regardless. Who is he?

Dusky Rose:-

She.

Fuck. Now I was telling her my love life. Nope. Time to end this.

GM-Molly:-

She? Guess you still like chasing girls then. Is she hot?

Dusky Rose:-

I think we've exceeded your need-to-know with this topic, Molls. It's kinda a private thing.

GM-Molly:-

Well, when I finally get out of this mess, I want to meet her. We can all go somewhere for drinks.

Dusky Rose:-

She's leaving in the morning. It's not like we're going out or anything.

GM-Molly:-

Well, well, well. I'll stop poking at this if you promise to pray to me.

Dusky Rose:-

I'll try, Molls. I really will.

GM-Molly:-

Thanks, Dusky.

Dusky Rose:-

Hey, no probs Molls. You just try not to get it on with the spider one. I don't think I've ever seen a spider god who was good before, ya know?

GM-Molly:-

Yeah. The spear maiden one is hot though.

Dusky Rose:-

Pics or it didn't happen.

GM-Molly:-

Please pray, Dusky.

The chat window closed and I was left staring into bright green eyes. Gloria leaned closer and kissed me.

Things tightened in my belly and I felt a fire wash up and into my chest as I leaned into the touch. She was so soft and warm, and her hands caught each of my cheeks. The kiss was just about the most amazing thing I could think of doing right then, so I relaxed into it and followed her lead.

When she finally leaned back—drawing her tongue from my lips—Gloria's green eyes were almost glowing. "Just let go completely, huh?"

I felt like I was almost sweating. There was heat swirling around my body and I wanted to let it out. That is, I wanted to let it out with Gloria. "You seemed to have a good thing going and I didn't want to interrupt."

She laughed at that arched an eyebrow while tilting her head toward the stairs. "I've got some other good things you could take a crack at?" Her words turned the fire up to an inferno. I ducked out from behind the bar and she was waiting for me. Tall enough that I fit against her side with her arm over my shoulder, I was excited for another night of fun.

As we reached the stairs, her hand trailed down from my shoulder to my rear and, through my dress, gave me a squeeze. Not a single girl I'd ever been with before had gotten that physical with me, but it felt great. She really liked me and being with me and that was finally starting to cement in my head that I could like me too.

I was comfortable wearing a dress. I was fine cuddling up with Caprice. I loved it when Gloria made love to me. Admitting that I could like these things things had seemed so wrong just a day or two earlier.

Her grip didn't waver as we walked up the stairs, but she did give an extra squeeze at the top that actually made me gasp.

"I hope you don't mind, I had Caprice put my things in your room for the evening. I have to ride out tomorrow and—You've been a lot of fun, Dusky." She knew my door and opened it, leaving me to rush inside with giggle that I didn't know I had in me.

I turned, spotting myself with a big smile on my face in the mirror, and kept turning to look back at Gloria. She closed the door and advanced on me, already reaching to her belt.

But it was then I spotted the symbol on her bag, and my memory was jogged.

----------------------------------------

Definitely not newbies—they were about mid-level players waiting in a newbie area. It was odd, but the group of six had two healers in it and I realized I couldn't just rush them.

Espy Death, however, was built for this kind of takedown, but I wanted to see if the party would split itself first. Instead they jumped out onto the road as an NPC drew near. It wasn't Gloria Windsong but a young male NPC that had a saddlebag slung over his horse with that exact pattern on it.

The party's archer drew back his bowstring and fired just as the NPC turned the big animal toward the errant rogue and barreled down on him. The arrows he launched struck, but when I checked the NPC's health, it hadn't budged.

That's when I saw the curling filigree edges to the NPC's health bar that marked him 2-group-encounter.

"Back off for the royal courier!" the NPC called as he rode over the archer.

That required healing, and when I saw one of the party's healers let loose with a large spell, I knew it was time to strike. With that caster having burned up mana and being on a different target, I hit the other with a stun-shout and angled around to their side.

The players were fodder for me. I had a few levels on each of them and all they had was numbers. With a tough NPC wailing on them from one side and me beating up on their support from the other, they didn't stand a chance.

By the time the first healer knew what was going on I had the second one dead and on the ground. This was easy. The opportunity now was to just loot that corpse and see if they survived the NPC, or—

"Brave warrior! Aid me and earn a bounty from the king!" The NPC's shout coincided with a situational quest auto starting for me. It was already 1/6 completed.

Laughing at my fortune, I advanced on the other healer and had them dead before the others in the party—who were fighting the NPC with little to no heals—realized I was on them. By then it was way too late.

I took some hits, of course, but nothing that really even needed me to break open a healing potion. The NPC got the final killing blow and my quest ticked over to 6/6 and marked as complete. Clicking it open to get my reward, I noticed again that same symbol.

> +200 gp

> +100 prestige

> +25 Grand Kingdom faction

----------------------------------------

"Grand Kingdom?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm one of the King's Messengers. You recognize that symbol?" Gloria's eyebrow raised as she started peeling free her leather corset.

"In another lifetime." It was the truth. "I found a group of people ambushing someone on a horse with one of those pouches." First I kicked off the slippers I'd worn all afternoon and then reached behind my back for the dress catches.

"Oh?" Gloria's tone became far more focused.

"There was only six of them. I killed their healers before the guy even started laying into them and we kinda met in the middle of the robbers." The dress was fighting me. I turned to the side and hung my legs over the bed. "Can you get this thing off me?"

Gloria's laughter broke the apparently serious moment. "Sounds like you were quite the champion. You used another name then, I take it?"

Her fingers were fast and agile, unhooking the little wire clips on the dress and easing it off my shoulders. "Thanks, and yeah. I don't know if I should tell you, but"—I took a deep breath—"Espy Death."

"Oh! I've heard that name. Has good standing with us." It hit me that, for all the fighting I'd done on Espy, I'd never once attacked Grand Kingdom NPCs—mostly because I only hunted players. I guess my past wasn't as terrible as I thought. "That was really you?"

"In a way, but not anymore. I am nothing that Espy was anymore. All my abilities and skills are gone and now—now I'm just a healer." Pulling my skirts up and over my head, I felt fairly exposed now—mostly because all I had on was my shorts. At least those I could deal with on my own while Gloria removed her shirt.

I was so distracted from then on that I completely forgot about Espy, the Grand Kingdom, and most anything that didn't have breasts.

----------------------------------------

Whatever woke me, it was from a great dream where I was in the arms of a beautiful woman. Waking up to find the dream a reality made me smile. Gloria was pressed against me from chest to shin. Soft bits, bony bits, and very soft bits were all touching in the most wonderful ways, but a stray not-actually-sex-related thought hit me.

I'd promised Molly I'd pray to her.

Did I need to kneel or anything? Clasping hands together and all that? If I had to do it at a temple there was no chance. Well, here goes.

Closing my eyes to what little moonlight came in through the shuttered windows, I focused my thoughts on Molly. I'd never spoken to her over voice, but I guess since she'd seen my streams she'd know my voice. Besides, who else would be praying to Molly, Goddess of Questfixes?

Molly, I don't know if you can hear this, but I'm praying about as hard as my heathen butt can. I like to think this is doing something, but at the same time I—

The world jerked and I felt my head fall the short distance I'd raised it back into my pillow. If it was a dream, it was hyper-real, and if I was awake, where was Gloria?

"Dusky!" A golden-clad woman, her chain armor shining like a beacon in the featureless plane we were in, rushed toward me and wrapped arms and a pair of huge white wings around me. "Dusky! You did it!"

"Wait," I said, "Molly?"

"Yes! Oh, you haven't seen this before have you? Check it out, I gave myself wings and some awesome armor." She backed off and did a twirl. "Do you think blonde or red hair is better? I think blonde is cooler with the gold armor."

It was way too much to think about. My mind raced. "Molls, I don't care about all this. I want to see you as you." The way she looked at me, I thought, was like she was calculating something in her head. "What?"

"I-I guess it's hard to remember. Like, if I could let you turn back into being your old self, would you be sure to get the exact patterns of your fingerprints right? Would you know how each and every hair on your head moved and parted?" Her wings and her armor were gone and Molly was just a mouse-haired woman wearing a hoodie and sweatpants. "This is probably the closest to how I looked, but I can't get it exactly right."

Opening my mouth, I tried to think of how to reply to her questions, but nothing came up. I looked down at myself and tried to think what I looked like. It was hard, like she said, but I could remember a few things clearly. I was taller, my arms were a little longer, I had a weird thing with my right finger that had a scar on it from when I was a baby, I had—I had…

"Dusky?" Molly's voice was really close. When I looked up, she was right in front of me, and when she looked into my eyes she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me. "I'm sorry."

"It's—It's okay, Molls. This—" I hugged her back and pressed my face against her shoulder (I hadn't expected her to be taller than me). "This is just a bit messed up, but I'm getting the hang of it."

After a while of just hugging, I felt—I wouldn't call it better, but some of the more raw panic I'd felt since it all started eased. "So what now, Molls? Do I keep praying to you?"

"It'd be nice. The others are all either stuck up, obsessed with nature, obsessed with themselves, or obsessed with trying to get me on their side. It's nice to know someone just likes me for me." Then she kissed my cheek and I felt the world fade away.