Chapter 64: Ch 64 – Gesture

My father opened the door pushing it with a grand gesture. “And here we are…” He said flicking the switch on the wall so that the whole space lit up within.

“Hmm…” Bella mused ahead of me.

“It's nice…” I offered back trying to show some level of appreciation.

It was empty really, completely, and utterly lacking all and every amenity.

“If by nice, you mean entirely lacking.” Bella sniffed.

“Well, you’ll both need to go shopping, or bring things from home.” My father said going inside, the words rolled off him.

My sister and I followed stepping inside the apartment.

All the walls were painted a flat white and there wasn’t so much as a clock or cheesy motivational poster on the wall.

“Oh sweet! There is a fridge!” I proclaimed rushing over to the item in question and opening it. I wasn't sure what I expected, but I was probably pushing it with my enthusiasm.

“Yaaaaay.” Belle stated staring at me standing there by the fridge. I could practically feel her sarcasm and mockery.

“Come on Bella aren’t you at least a bit excited to leave home and live a little?” I chided her back. Maybe I was overdoing it, but I kind of felt like I had to make up for her attitude.

She shrugged, “I’d rather have stayed at home.”

“Not going to get anywhere doing that.” My father interjected.

Belle just sighed.

I, having found nothing in the refrigerator closed it and checked the top, to which I found nothing either. “I think this could be kind of fun.” I said pulling back a little.

“Sure you do.” Belle mocked again.

I just rolled my eyes back at her, there was no winning.

We visited the two bedrooms on either side, there was a combined kitchen and living area, and finally, Belle and I were herded into the bathroom.

Belle who was in front of me scanned the interior, “Well at least it has a real bathtub.” She said glancing back at me.

I turned glancing at the large mirror that covered the wall, “Yeah, it's pretty nice.”

Bit by bit it faded away and my mind floated, drifted for moments until I found myself sitting and glancing around almost expecting to hear my dad speak a reply. However, I found nothing of the sort. Instead, I found that I was sitting alone in the cavern. The gentle sound of the flowing water was the only real sound I could hear.

I couldn’t help but think back on the reflection in the mirror. I had short black hair, and my sister had a long blond ponytail. My outfit had been a tight top exposing my belly button, and short jean shorts. While Belle’s had been a frilly top and skirt. I knew that in the end… in my first memory we had looked almost identical. But in this last memory, we’d been so different I’d been a bit shocked by it. I had thought we were twins. Maybe we were… But I’d gone out of my way to look as different as possible?

I suppose I knew the answer to that, “A least this way I don’t get mistaken for her.” My former self's words as I recalled them.

Rather than dwell on the memory or dream, I tried to remember last night. I didn’t really remember falling asleep. I recalled going over each incantation with Phon. It was honestly a bit depressing now that I knew them all. There were technically six he knew. Two of them however were ways to dismiss their counterparts. Well, maybe half met that description in truth. This left me with ignite, extinguish, light, dismiss light, mix, and settle. Those last two were somewhat interesting and I could see why he knew them, considering he was an alchemist and he probably spent a lot of time mixing things or waiting for them to separate. I barely saw a reason for extinguishing, and as I learned last night you didn’t need to dismiss lights, as they simply winked out once the mana that fueled them ran out.

Still, I couldn’t help but be excited by this much. I wouldn’t need to worry about lighting fires the old-fashioned way anymore, and being able to create a floating light source was always useful. Really the only downside with that one was that I couldn’t move it.

It was exciting! But also a bit disappointing. I was kind of hoping to get a spell that cleaned my clothing and let me skip a bath. This was mostly because bathing in this world was mostly unappealing. Cold water and wet clothes were just not something I was going to get excited about. Maybe one day I could have a warm bath, but until then, I had some tiny hope of learning magic to skip that sort of thing. Of course, now that I was thinking about it, I realized I really needed some work in that department. Maybe it was time to cash in my “bath-time with Devin.”

Speaking of which, where was he? Also, there was the other problem, “Naan, did you ever come up with anything? A way up?” I voiced internally.

“There are a few varied paths, but to say one is easy, or ideal. No.”

“What if we went down? And around it all?” I offered.

“This would only delay the process further. We need something we can do in a few days.” Naan pointed out.

It was all dumb for the most part. But there was that problem wasn’t it? I suppose we could extend such by finding food ourselves and bringing that down. But that did raise another question. One I should look into.

“So you’ve maybe got something if we start digging?”

“Accurate.” Naan noted, “It makes sense why the dungeon formed in the direction it did. It's possible that the whole area has similar issues with underground water pockets and rivulets. Perhaps such is also the reason for the plants within the dungeon in question.”

“Alright… Well, I guess I’m going to see what's going on up above then we can firm up our plans.”

I gathered the mushroom light, stood up, and walked into the passageway. The area was mostly lit by a few candles that had nearly burned out. Men were littered about, I’d help carry them down so I knew all this. But walking past them now made me realize all too much just how bad of a condition some of them were in. Missing limbs, and bloody bandages, I paused finding someone laying there entirely still.

“He's dead…” I whispered into the air.

“Quite so.” Naan agreed.

“You didn’t snatch his soul up did you?” I asked.

“No, we were asleep when he died.”

“So you would have if you could have?” I inquired.

“Not everyone can be. Those with regrets or those looking to try again usually are suitable. But even then it's not a sure thing.” Naan noted.

I was definitely getting that impression about magic. Even with my shape-shifting, it didn’t quite work the way you expected sometimes, mostly where clothes were involved. Making myself big and tall like Devin didn’t leave me with strength and sturdiness, it just made me feel bloated and weak. Incantations produced effects, but it was hard to gauge what exactly the results would be based on how much mana you put into them. Even with Naan’s dungeon how people’s impressions or stances might affect his ability to act, making things more and more uncertain. In a lot of ways, the realization that life itself was magical in nature made sense, it was messy, unpredictable, and sometimes just didn’t work right. The simple truth was that the world wasn’t simple, and magic was no different because, underneath it all, every part of this world was magic. Or at least mana, I suppose the people of this world probably think of those as different things. Whereas the idea of mana in itself made me think of magic.

I took a few breaths and forced myself to head up the ladder, and down the hall. The main hall of the church was even more cramped than the night prior. But there were a lot more blankets strewn about, and some of the space had been cleared of mess.

It kind of made me wish I’d have cleaned part of this up, not that I’d had the time of course.

No one seemed to care about me, and I just walked outside. The roads in the town were packed with various soldiers as well. There were pots simmering and the whole camp seemed to have a defeated air about it. I supposed that meant that they’d been pushed back.

I made my way down the street before gently knocking at Jenny’s door. When she called for me to enter I slipped inside.

“Oh. Anna, it's you.” She said with a simple smile. “Did you need something?”

“I was just curious if they went out to work the fields again.” I admitted.

“Yeah. The big man who is leading the army is out there watching, it sounds like they don’t expect them to follow so soon, but… well…” She worked her fingers in front of her, fidgeting for a moment, “We might have to leave.”

I nodded, “It seems like that's probably going to happen.” I agreed.

“You think so?” She asked clearly not wanting to believe it.

“Devin and I came from the south…” I said, “They burned villages and worse. Honestly, if you wanted to be safe, maybe you should start packing early.” I explained.

“I… see.” she said sounding as though she still wasn’t certain but felt my words weighing on her.

“I’m sorry to have bothered you. Thanks for letting me know they were working.” I said.

“Oh.. anytime dear.” She called after me as I bid her goodbye.

I made my way over to Charlene’s home next. She was furiously working on something as I pulled the door open.

“Didn’t I just…” She said as she glared over at me.

“Anna! She suddenly exclaimed and brightened significantly.

“Yes?” I asked back not sure what to make of her mood swing.

“Come here! What are you waiting for? Come on!” She said and continued as I failed to immediately move.

I didn’t have anything else to do so I did as she asked. She opened up the closet and pulled free a dark green dress that looked a lot like the one I kept growing to walk around town with, though hers looked far nicer. She draped it over her arm, then she pulled out another and did the same, this one was a soft orange, yellowish color. I wasn’t sure what that second one was about.

She gestured for me to go with her into the back room. I just went along with her as she spoke, “I had meant to head over and talk to you this morning but I’ve been swamped trying to patch and make blankets for the soldiers. They expect me to work miracles, I swear.” She complained, “But I’m so glad you came by, we can finally do the final alterations. Go ahead and close the door would you?”

I did as she asked closing the door and I turned to take in the space, there were some silver-coated mirrors, and various candle holders sat in the corners, though none were lit. The light all came from overhead, which now that I glanced up was several simple glass panes. Quite the nice space, and well outfitted.

“Go ahead and take that off.” She said gesturing at me as she set the orange dress to the side and set the green one on a wooden stool.

I paused, just standing there.

She waited for me, as she pulled out some thread, and spent a few moments threading the needle expertly with a bit of help from her fingers and mouth.

“Well?” She asked staring at me expectantly.

Needless to say, I was panicking. I’d somehow never even considered that this might be a thing. What did I do?

“I know you're not shy.” She said tapping her foot on the floor.

She knew me well enough to know that much. I could make a break for it, but what would that accomplish? Did I expect to borrow Kosue’s poncho? Some blanket? How the hell would I explain that? Sorry I ran off and came back wearing something different. Had to use the bathroom! If I said that she would be skeptical of me for sure!

There was another option, however. Maybe it was a bad idea, but really at this point what was I going to lose? I decided to just go for it before I thought better, “Um… Charlene, please don’t… freak out?” I asked her.

“About what? Do you have scars or something?” She asked a bit confused by my words.

I shook my head, “It's not that… it's more that… I’m not wearing a dress.” I offered back equally unhelpful.

She looked at the green fleshy creation that was draped about me. “Then… what's that?” She asked pointing with a threaded needle at me like I was being silly.

Sort of no way back from this… “It’s… fake.” I tried instead.

She just frowned at me.

“Dangerous…” Naan rumbled in my head.

That was true. Maybe I should try and get some reassurances in this, “Charlene… please promise me you’ll not do anything when I show you?”

“I don’t know what you're talking about.” She replied standing there looking impatient.

“Please, you have to promise me you won’t run off or get mad, or anything.” I insisted.

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“Anna what are you talking about?” she asked instead.

“Please.” I said practically pleading. “This… is kind of a big deal.” I added.

“Fine, if you want the words, I promise I’ll not… do anything.” She said clearly not sure what the purpose was.

“This isn’t a dress… It’s more like my skin.” I explained.

She just gave me a confused look.

“Alright, I’m going to take it off…” I continued.

Charlene just nodded.

I let the fabric begin to pull inwards. The way it hung off of me with tiny cords connecting it to my body meant that the whole thing seemed to pull taught around me before folding into my skin.

Charlene just stared at me.

“See?” I offered weakly, not sure what else to say, so I just stood there naked in the sunlight cast down from the windows overhead.

“You… You…” Her mind worked awkwardly.

“I’m a…” I began, but what did I say? Tell her I’m a succubus? That I’m a monster? A shape-shifter? None of these were probably good things in her eyes. How did you trust someone that could look like anyone, she was going to panic wasn’t she?

She just stared at me, entirely frozen.

“Charlene?” I asked after a few moments.

“Why… why did I make this dress?” She asked instead.

“The dress… No.. the skin that I was wearing over me… It's like being exposed to the elements. It looks like a dress, but it's cold. The same with my shoes, I can make skin that looks like shoes, but it's really just… my skin. It hurts and gets cut on rocks.” I explained slowly, and with a little extra thought.

“So… you… can make things out of your… flesh? But the things you make… aren’t good?” She asked trying to make sense of what I was saying.

“That’s right…” I admitted.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Charlene asked, still looking uncertain.

I supposed I’d need to go all in wouldn’t I? “Trying to make dresses or shoes isn’t really what I do. It's more like a surface-level detail.” I admitted. I let my hair turn red, as I watched her for reactions.

“You… You are a demon… in the sunlight.” She said taking a step back almost automatically, she was clearly unsure of what to make of that.

“I suppose that's not wrong.”

“How?” She said glancing to the door behind me before looking back at me.

“Can… If you want to hear the story… I can tell you, but can we maybe sit down and have some tea?” I offered.

“Just give me the short version.” She insisted.

This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.

I glanced down at my fingers, considering what to say. If she wanted the short version, I’d need to choose my words carefully.

A bit of thought later I glanced back up at her and spoke, “I was captured by the elves down south. They had me held in a prison, and while I was in there I made a deal with a dungeon. I became a succubus, it was the only way I could escape.”

“And… Devin?” She asked.

Did she know him? When had that happened? I could only assume it was early in the morning before I’d gotten up. Or maybe I was overthinking it all and it was because I’d mentioned him over tea?

"Well?” She asked pressing for answers.

“What about him?” I asked, “He's just a human man that helped me escape.”

“No! I mean are you lying to him too?” She asked with a touch of accusation.

“He knows exactly what I am. I don’t want to lie to you. It's honestly why I decided to tell you now.”

“Is it?” She asked.

“If I wanted to I could have run off, I could have insisted you leave, I could probably do other things. But I like you… and the people I’ve met in this town so far. I’ve not been this way for long. But… I hoped you could at least understand.” I said noticeably sagging at the realization that maybe Naan had been right this time.

“You promise me?” She asked.

I nodded, “I don’t quite know what you want the promise on, but that was full well the absolute truth. Every bit of it.”

She took a breath and relaxed a little.

“Is this what you look like normally?” She asked.

“No.” I admitted.

“Then… what?”

I let my hair return to orange with its stripes, tiger kin ears popped up on top, and my human ears receded away. A moment later my tail swished gently behind me.

“Oh…” She said staring at me.

“You wanted to be more human?” She asked.

“I know that some of the humans around here have weird thoughts about tiger kin.” I pointed out.

“Around here?” she asked.

“Well… some of the soldiers at least did.” I said with a shrug.

“Idiots…” She sighed. She frowned looking at me, “I’m sorry…”

“For what?” I asked.

“I was terribly mean just now… I… I shouldn’t have done that.”

I shook my head, “I don’t blame you. If I was in your position I’d probably have done the same thing.”

“Now it makes sense why Devin said he wanted this color…” She said walking over to the yellow-orange dress. She lifted it up and walked over to me, holding it out so she could see what it looked like beside me.

“It complements your hair. Do you need a hole… for the tail?” She asked.

Did I? Honestly now that I thought about it the only clothing I’d worn as a tiger kin had been loincloths and ponchos. The rest of my time as a tiger kin had been as an exhibitionist. Well, I guess I had let the tail do its own thing while we headed north. But like most of the time, it was easy to just put it out of my mind.

“Is that difficult? I don’t really want to ruin the dresses…” I pointed out.

She nodded and considered it, “It would tear easily… I’d need to make some changes around it to try and prevent that.”

“Then let's not.” I offered, “I don’t want to cause any more trouble, and honestly it's not bothered me before.

“If you say so.” She said offering the dress to me.

I took it and slipped it over my head. It was oddly soft but warm, I was honestly surprised, I’d expected it to be itchy.

“What's with that look?” Charlene asked me.

“What? Look?” I asked.

“That one.” She said tapping my nose with a small smile.

I couldn’t help but smile back, “I was just thinking, I expected this to itch.”

She sniffed, “I certainly hope not. I put a lot of work into creating my cloth. I might be some small town tailor but I pride myself on my work.”

“It’s nice.” I pointed out.

“Yeah, trying to butter me up after thinking I made shoddy clothing, hmm?” She prodded with a smile.

“It's the first time I’ve worn one, to be honest.” I pointed out.

“Wait… really?” She asked.

I nodded, “Before I started making weird fake dresses I wore pelts.”

“Oh… I suppose that makes some sense, the beast kin tribes are more hunters than farmers right?”

“Right…” I offered back uncertainly.

“Oh... Sorry, I guess I probably shouldn’t be bringing that up.”

I guess someone had told her about the fate of such beast kin… Wait, it only occurred to me what she had said earlier, “What did you mean Devin said he wanted this color?”

She giggled conspiratorially, “He asked me to make you a second one, and picked out this color. I didn’t really get it at the time, but now I understand. I think he really likes you, you know?”

I couldn’t help but sniffle a bit, I really had no idea he'd done that. It was true, and I really didn't deserve him.

“What? What is it?” She said suddenly taken aback by my sudden tears.

I shook my head, “I know. I’m so lucky to have met him.” I replied brightly, deserve or not Devin wanted to be with me, and these few tears I shed were nothing but joy for the fact that we'd come this far together.

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