Chapter 24: Chapter 24

Peter soon arrived at the same clothing store that Kalista had visited on her day off. This time she didn't make any mention of it as she entered the store. Slightly past the entrance inside, she spotted the Arachnid giving a light wave as a greeting, and the Arachnid flashed Kalista a quick smile once she spotted her.

“Since you're both cleaned up, I thought we could buy you both a new set of clothes. Something nice to wear while we're in town.”

Gaia clapped her hands lightly as she excitedly began to look around the store. Kalista went to the section she previously browsed and began to look around once more. As she picked up and inspected each outfit, she furrowed her brows.

“Wow, that one looks amazing!” Kalista quickly turned around only to see that Peter's comment had not been directed to her, but towards Gaia, who was already wearing something new. It was an orange dress which ended just above her knees. It was decorated in white floral prints, the top portion stretched impressively forward giving way to a deep cleavage. Gaia giggled as she twirled around in front of Peter, and Kalista felt a twinge of jealousy.

She thought for a moment before quickly flipping through a bunch of the dresses nearby, before finally finding it. The blue dress the Arachnid had showed her before. Kalista quickly entered a nearby changing room and stripped herself completely. She quickly began to put the dress on, but met some resistance as she tried to pull it up. In desperation, she began to tug on the cloth.

Riiiip.

Kalista froze.

“Madam?” A voice spoke from the other side of the door. It was the Arachnid.

“J-just a moment,” Kalista stammered.

The door slowly opened, and the Arachnid caught Kalista frantically pushing the split ends of the cloth towards each other. The Arachnid sighed. “Sir, one of our products was damaged. I'm going to have to ask you to either purchase it or pay for it to be repaired.”

Kalista's heart sank. Now she had done it. Peter is going to be-

“Hmm?” Peter turned towards Kalista and the Arachnid. “Oh, sure. Hey Kalista, I found this dress, can you try it on for me?” Peter appeared before the two of them holding a plain white dress. “I think you put it on from the top and hook your hands in for the straps.” He handed the dress to Kalista and turned around. “Let me know when you're done.”

Kalista blinked. “S-sure.” She closed the door behind her. She took off the slightly torn blue dress and held the white dress above her. Very carefully, she slid the dress down her body and took care to hook her hands through the holes of the straps as Peter had instructed. As her head peaked through the top, she inspected herself in the mirror.

The dress did a nice job of accentuating her body. The bottom was slightly frilly and floated as she twirled around. The chest region was covered, resulting in no exposed cleavage, although the cloth was tight and still showcased her assets. But she feared it would not have the same impact as Gaia's dress. Although it was subtle, there were slight floral prints on this dress as well.

Kalista slowly opened the door. “R-ready,” she said nervously.

Peter turned around and his eyes widened. “Wow, do I have a good eye or what!” He exclaimed. Kalista couldn't help but smile. She briefly spun around to give Peter a full view. “I think that's settled then,” he remarked. “Let me go buy them.”

Kalista quickly returned to the dressing room and took off the dress and put on her original clothes. When she stepped out, Peter grabbed the dress from her and walked to the counter along with Gaia's.

“For the two dresses that'll be two silver, for the repair of the blue dress that'll be thirty copper. Dear customer, would you be interested in a new product making the waves in primal fashion?” The store-clerk asked.

Peter nodded. “Sure, I'm listening.”

“Ahem,” the store-clerk cleared their throat. “Tired of buying nice clothes for your favorite primal only for them to be destroyed in a random battle? With MagicWeave, you won't have to! With a quick enchantment applied to a piece of clothing, it uses the same magic that tamers use to keep and restore their primal's original outfit to give them a stylish outfit to change into! Never worry about having to find a replacement for your favorite style! Able to be used for any primal a tamer is bonded with.” The clerk cleared his throat again. “To apply it to both these dresses in particular, that would bring your total today to four silver, thirty copper.”

Kalista looked towards Peter. For a moment, he seemed hesitant. His expression seemed sad, and distant. Suddenly, he was cheerful again. “That sounds great! I'll pay for it.” Had he been worried about the cost?

“Excellent,” the clerk responded, taking the coins Peter handed over. “One moment please, I will have the enchantment applied in the back of the store. The clerk disappeared for a short while before returning with both of the dresses. To Kalista, they didn't look any different from before. “Place your hand on the dresses and activate your abilities as if you were to command one of your primals.”

Peter focused as his hand briefly glowed. Each dress suddenly disappeared from the counter. “Now, similar to how you summon your primals, just imagine summoning them while wearing that dress.” In an instant, Kalista's normal outfit changed to the white dress she had just been trying on, and Gaia's leafy vestments were replaced with her orange floral dress. Kalista couldn't believe it.

“Wow,” Peter exclaimed, “does this enchantment work on armor as well?”

The store-clerk chuckled. “I heard the vendor is still trying to work that out. Right now it's mostly used for regular clothing. Maybe in the next few years the enchantment for armor will exist.”

“I'll keep that in mind, have a nice day!”

“You too! Take care!” The clerk shouted.

Peter placed one hand around Kalista's hip and the other around Gaia's and tugged the both of them out from the store. “A flower in each hand,” he boldly proclaimed. Kalista rolled her eyes as both she and Gaia began to giggle. “I have one more place in mind for us to go.”

The group soon arrived at what looked like a fancy restaurant to Kalista. “Welcome to Sunset Rest, do you have a reservation?” A waitress greeted them. She had small, pointy ears, along with a tail which seemed to be curling back and forth. Her outfit seemed very professional, a black blazer with a red shit underneath.

“I had a reservation for later in the day under Peter, party of three. Is it possible to move it up to now?” Peter asked.

“Let me see if there's any room available.” The waitress quickly left to check, returning a short while afterwards. “Good news! Not only is there a free space, it's the same table that you had reserved! Let me guide you there.”

“Fantastic.”

As Peter continued to hug Kalista's side as they follow the waitress, she looked around the room. It was surprisingly difficult to see the whole area. Rather than regular tables being scatterred about like at the inn, instead people seemed to be seated at large, circular booths. Hanging above each of them was some strange looking light fixture. The strange part was that it appeared to have a thick pile of cloth atop being held by a cage of metal rods. Inside the booth was one long circular couch, with a round table at the center.

Kalista, Peter, and Gaia slid into the booth in that order. The waitress poured some water for everyone and handed out menus before leaving temporarily. Kalista opened the menu and began to read through. The first thing she noticed was the prices. Although she didn't have much to go off of, compared to the food at the inn which Peter normally bought for them, these prices were a considerable amount more.

“Order anything you like,” Peter said.

It was as if he could read Kalista's mind. She began to further dig through the menu, when a thought occurred to her. Actually, more than one. She had gotten them kicked out of the bathhouse soon after entering. And had ripped the blue dress causing Peter to have to pay a fee for its repair.

It would likely cause issue if she tried to order nothing at all. She resigned herself to get something cheap instead. Kalista's eyes returned to the earlier parts of the menu, where it seemed some of the cheapest items lie. They didn't seem bad, by any means, and because of that on some level she felt she will need further punishment. Kalista reached for the glass of water as she was reading and misjudges the distance and spills a little. She takes a sip.

The waitress soon returned and took their orders while retrieving the menus. The table soon grew uncomfortably quiet. Why wasn't anyone talking? Kalista wondered if there was anything she could say to spark conversation.

“What type of primal was our waitress?” Kalista asked.

“Ah, she was a Felina. I heard in some areas they are super common. Kinda strange that she is working in this town though.”

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“Why is that?”

“Felina and Fren types don't get along super well from what I've heard. Something about their origins, I think.”

Kalista nodded. The conversation died down quick. What else could they talk about? Kalista's mind kept drifting towards their battles. But Peter had said this was their day off, was this the right time to discuss such things. Kalista continued to mull over topics in her head.

“Peter, what was your childhood like?” Gaia suddenly asked.

“Boring, I guess. I spent most of it at a large foster home within town. Although I don't remember it, apparently that wasn't always the case. The people there were pretty nice. Though they had a lot of us to take care of, so they never really paid much attention to any of us individually. But I knew they were always doing their best just to keep the place going. At one point I asked one of them if they knew anything about my parents. I finally got one of the caretakers to admit that my father had been a tamer and had passed away, and soon afterwards my mother dropped me off there. It didn't seem like they had any more information on her.”

“I'm sorry to hear that. Is that why you became a tamer?”

“Because my dad was? No.” Peter paused. “If you're a guy you don't have many options to choose from. I did a lot of physical stuff. Some sports, helping around the building, that sort of thing. I liked mathematics, at least the parts we learned anyway. But normally any jobs that really use it require more schooling, and that typically ends up being reserved for women. Maybe if I had dated a human girl I could have been a house husband. I heard some guys manage to go down that route. But the women I knew were always picky. I heard that changes though after a few years once everyone settles into a job. Tamers...”

Peter chuckled. “Mostly fall off the market. And suddenly the situation switches.” Peter paused again. “Ah, but I don't want it to sound like I wasn't interested in becoming a tamer. The truth is that they end up having a lot of flexibility in a way. In my case I have to stay a tamer for two years, but afterwards, I could go work in construction. Or perhaps on a farm. What primals you have by the time you make the change sort of impacts it, but I think a lot is possible. Besides the danger,” Peter scratched his head. “There are a lot of good parts.” Peter smiled. “Like both of you.”

For a moment, it seemed like Peter's expression almost flickered, but Kalista wasn't sure.

“Well I'm very fortunate that those women you had known missed out on such a wonderful man.” Gaia smiled as she placed her hand on Peter's.

“Me too!” Kalista quickly added.

A knocking sound turned the group's attention towards the entrance. “Foods ready, is now a good time?”

“Yes,” Peter responded.

The Felina brought their meals in one at a time, Kalista's was last. She had ordered something called “Minestrone Soup.” Their soups had seemed to be some of the least expensive items on the menu and this one sounded the most appetizing.

Kalista could smell the rich aroma as the waitress approached her with the bowl.

A slip.

A yelp.

Kalista tried to move out of the way, but her legs bumped into the table.

She was trapped.

The contents of the bowl splashed on her dress. Around her chest and stomach.

It manages to mostly avoid her skin. The soup is hot. Not painfully so. She was a primal after all, more durable than a human.

But the dress.

The dress was all covered in soup.

“Oh nyo! I'm so sorry!” The waitress exclaimed, turning to fetch some napkins and begin trying to clean up the mess.

The white dress. Now stained. More durable than a human. It'll be fine. Peter paid for that enchantment. If it is like her regular clothes which recover from cuts and tearing. A stain could go away too, right? He bought it, so that this wouldn't be the last time she wore it. Kalista looked towards Peter.

“I only wanted...” he whispered. Why... why did he look like that?

Oh. Today...

Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

He thinks...

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

More durable than a-.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

More-.

Oh.

Wh-.

W-.

“Waaaaaa!” Kalista wailed, tears falling from her eyes.

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