The day, for better or for worse, was quite simir to the day prior. When Katrina woke up, a quice out the window revealed that Alicia had spent as much time as possible clearing space for Elias’ pond, theuro sparring with Tabitha in the evening. Katrina could hear the two fighting, and made sure not to test any spells without first sulting her fellow delvers; she still felt bad about getting Alicia hurt st time.
When Katrihe house, the first thing she noticed was an unusual ructure on the front wn. The chair she’d previously been using, that she’d stolen from Alicia’s kit, had been repced with aly designed colle of bark and pnts that clearly resembled a chair. Its pt seemed too tal, and when coupled with the chair’s missing arm rests, she had a feeling this was a gift for her.
Thankfully, Alicia and Tabitha were no loraining i, and were instead just outside the house. Katrina waited for a break in their practice before speaking up. “Hey you two!”
“Kat! You’re up!” Without hesitation, Alicia ran closer and jumped into Katrina’s arms. They spun around a few times before settling into a series of excited kisses, and Katrina was so caught up in the moment she almost missed Tabitha groaning in the background.
“You two have a room, you know,” The Foxgirl said.
“What, are public dispys of affe too much for you? Would you rather us strip down and film ourselves making love instead?” Kat asked, stig her to at Tabitha.
“Ouch, touché. Didn’t think you had that much sass in you, Fangs.” Tabitha smirked as she set her staff down. “You have good timing, at least. I was about to reend a break anyways. Cherry Blossom here is making really great progress!”
With a smile, Katrina looked back to Alicia and caught her blushing profusely. Her entire face was dark green, and Kat didn’t bother asking why; it was obvious what the Dryad was thinking about. “e Knight’s not being th on you, is she?”
Alicia adamantly shook her head, her cheeks still dark. “No, it’s been a lot of fun! It’s tough, but I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would.”
“She’s caught me off guard a couple times, and she’s gettier at using her Race Features in iing ways. She figured out that she root herself for extra stability, and she’s gottey creative with that,” Tabitha said.
“Okay, but you’re obviously still taking it easy on me. You have, like, a million Agility; if we were to actually fight you’d tear me apart!”
“We’re on the same team, silly. I’m not expeg our Bulwark to have the same fighting prowess as a Mage Knight, we all have different strengths. I have no defensive abilities, nor I en or any of the support magigs has. Speaking of, how are your spells going? Got a full suite yet?”
Katrina finally let Alicia go, and she picked up her guitar in preparation for a practical demonstration. “Almost there. I needed a lot of time for this spell, but I think it’ll be really helpful.” After a quick pause to position her hands correctly, she began pying a melody and weaving her magito it. Seds ter, just a few feet from the group, a full-sized illusory double of Alicia appeared.
“Whoa, check her out!” the Foxgirl said. She started cirg the illusory Dryad, looking bad forth between the copy and the real thing. “The level of detail here is incredible, Fangs, but I think you’re showing your hand. Now Cherry Blossom is going to know how much time you spend cheg her out.”
“Well, I mean, that wasn’t what…” Kat caught herself blushing heavily, and when she looked at Alicia, she was doing the same. As a distra, she began moving the illusion around, showg a series of simple maneuvers she’d seen Alicia use during sparring practice. She cleared her throat, then tialking. “I’ve got Bardiowledge, so it’s easy to memorize all the things you two are doing. Hopefully these illusions could work as distras, but I could also make copies of you, Tabitha, or stuff like fake barriers. They aren’t solid, and anything that touches them will realize they’re fake, but I still think they’ll be helpful.
Tabitha took o circle then moved to stao Katrina. “I’ve never seen illusions before, it’s wild how real they look. And you make them move as fast as you want, right? If you made copies of me, I bet we could trick other people into thinking I create speed illusions of myself.”
“Wait, other people?” Alicia asked, finally speaking up. “I thought we were just fighting monsters?”
“Oh, we are,” Tabitha said. “I’m just thinking of the worst-case sario where we end up fighting uilds or something. Every Guild in the Ameri Midwest is going to know that I’ve started delving in a few days, and there’s always a e of them might try something. If wets out that I’m so fast I leave afterimages? It might dissuade them from doing something stupid.”
“How do you know they’re going to find out? You think they’ve got spies after you or something?” Kat asked.
“I nning on making an annou myself, actually. I o trol the narrative as much as possible, but I ’t lie, it’ll also give me a bunch of free publicity.”
Katrina paused for a sed, trying to pick her words carefully. “Tabitha, please don’t fet that this is a matter of life ah for Alicia; we’re not just a publicity stunt for your cam work. How do you know that making this annou won’t cause us more trouble down the line?”
Tabitha looked over to Katrina just as she dropped the illusion. The Foxgirl’s normal, light-hearted demeanor had vanished, and she now spoke with unnerving seriousness. “Kat, believe me, I get it. I know I joke around a lot, but I’ve been camming for far lohan I’ve been a Fox. You know why my st name is Kithkin? It’s because my family disowned me after they found out I was a sex worker. I’m used to being undervalued, to living in a world where people demand your services with one hand, then chastise you for providing them with the other. I promise you, if I don’t make this annou, people will find out anyways. By trolling the narrative, though, I el that into mohat will make this easier for us. The assholes at Ashes To Ashes? They just ower, and there’s no power more appealing than the ability to humiliate your perceived enemies.”
Silence fell among the group. Katrina had not been expeg such a serious response, nor had she expected to suddenly learn so much about Tabitha’s past. “Tabitha, I… look, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just worried about Alicia.”
“Hey, I get it. Just remember that, apart from delving, the Guilds have a bunch of stupid political drama among themselves, and they keep trying to suck me into it. I’ve pyed their game before, and the best way to stay safe is to put on a mask. When people look at me, they think I’m a goofy, ckadaisical, sex-crazed pinup model that happeo get lucky with her Css. They want to manipute me, show me off as a prize in their stupid dick-measuring test. What they never figure out, though, is that I want them to think that. The lower their opinion of me, the easier it is for me to py them like the idiots they are.”
“Wow, I had no idea things were so cutthroat,” Alicia said. “People really want you in their Guilds that badly?”
“Oh yeah. Why do you think I was so skeptical of you two? I’ve got an immensely powerful Css, a Race that pairs excellently with it, and I’m a retively famous camgirl. Even if I never fought a single monster, my endorsement alone would be a huge win for whatever Guild I joihe best argument you two made was actal; you simply didn’t know who I was.”
“Well, however it happened, we’re happy you’re here, Tabitha,” Alicia said.
“Call me Tab, Cherry Blossom. My full name always feels so formal, y’know?”
Katrina cleared her throat, happy that no problems popped up after their tense versation. “And, uh, you keep calli if you want.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Fangs,” Tabitha said. She thought to herself for a moment, then her previous cheery attitude returned. “You know, even if you don’t want to be a cam girl, you could make a killing with those illusions. Two of me on camera? That would be a great show.”
“Right, well, I’ll think about it. In the meantime, shouldn’t we keep practig?” Kat asked.
Alicia grumbled, leaning on Katrina’s shoulder. “’t we wait a few more minutes?”
Katrina, uo resist the geous green eyes of her girlfriend, relented. “Alright, fifteen more minutes, and then back to practice.”
“Yay!” Alicia kissed Katrina on the cheek, and the three girls went back to rexing on the front wn. The versation flowed easily, even if they were mostly making small talk. Katrina couldn’t help but notice that Tab seemed to effortlessly take over the versation; she wondered if that were a sign of her skills at trolling a crowd, or perhaps a hint at her social situation. Did she have friends outside of her cam work? She had yet to mention anything, but Katrina didn’t want to risk too many heavy versations in one night.
Returning to their traini natural, like it had been a part of their lives for months, despite it only being the sed day. It was easier for Katrina, certainly, who’d been dreaming of delving for years, but even Alicia seemed to be more fortable on her feet. Her sparring bouts with Tabitha were starting to grow longer.
It only took awo hours for Katrina to finish ting her spell list. The st three spells came much quicker, and she had a feeling that perfeg her illusion spell had given her greater trol over her magic. The first of the three was a simple piece of divination; a simple echolocatiohat would help map areas and find creatures, among other things. The sed was a siingly loud screech that resembled microphone feedback. With proper usage, it would give her a way to briefly stun anyone nearby. The st spell allowed her to create small bursts of trated soniergy, and it was the only spell in her repertoire that enabled her to deal direct damage. Its biggest be was its cheap MP cost; eadividual strike required retively small amounts of mana, so it would always be an option so long as she wasn’t pletely drained.
After her st demonstration, and aed round of appuse and kisses from Alicia, Katri down her guitar and colpsed into her new wn chair. Though she wasn’t physically exhausted, the stress from w with her magic had started adding up. “Phew, magic is work. I won’t lie, it requires more focus than I was expeg.”
“You’re also giving yourself a pretty wide variety of spells, which I’m sure increases the mental burden. If you were a Magus, and every single spell was ‘Set thing on fire’ then I’m sure you’d be ier shape,” Tabitha said.
Alicia, who was sitting on the ground and leaning against Katrina’s p, spoke up . “You don’t have a mana headache, do you?”
“Nothing like that, but…” Katrina paused, cheg her Status briefly, “my mana’s not i shape. I’m irely sure what to do about that; I o practice the spells to make them, but now I’m going to be fighting my mana regen quite a bit whenever we start delving.”
“I don’t suppose you two have money for some mana potions, do you?” Tabitha asked.
Katrina shook her head. “I’m basically ft broke.”
“I’m a little better off financially, but potions are so expensive! I had to drop three hundred bucks just to get home from the Dungeon Camp the other day! I could maybe afford, like, one, but that’s it. You ’t give yourself mana regen, you?” Alicia asked.
Katrina shook her head. “Sadly, no. It’s a shame we don’t have a Caretaker.”
“Caretaker?” Alicia tilted her head in fusion.
“Imagine a Bard, but their Inspiration sts for much longer while not being as potent. Plus, instead of needing to perform, their abilities are tied to different types of lifestyles, like cooking or meditation. There’s actually a Guild with branches all over the try that’s based almost entirely around the Css, they call themselves the Stagehands.”
“That’s a bit of an odd name,” Alicia said.
Katrio respond, but Tabitha beat her to the punch. “They’re always setting the stage, but he ones perf. They typically don’t delve, instead fog oing up in Dungeon Camps to help other delvers recover.”
“We didn’t see their setup when we visited the Camp, it’s a little further away. They be heavily from having a more solid, perma structure, so they avoid getting too close to the entrance. Plus, they don’t have a lot of fighters; if any monsters got out, they wouldn’t be a lot of use,” Katrina said. She was now zily pying with Alicia’s hair, and could tell the Dryad was loving it.
“Actually,” Tabitha started, “I don’t know any Caretakers, but I think I might have a solution for your mana problem. Cherry Blossom, when are you going to bed? Got a few more hours in you?”
“I should be fine. Why?” Alicia asked.
A pyful smirk crossed the Foxgirl’s face before she responded. “You two should go up and put on something nice. We’re going out.”
—
"Nyx, should I be worried about what Tab has pnned for us?"
I don't think that's my call to make, you've spent more time with her than I have.
"Yeah, but aren't you— oh never mind. I'm excited to have a solution for all of Kat's mana problems, but something tells me Tab's got something she's not telling us."
Looks like you'll just have to dress up and find out! Maybe it'll be fun!
"Hrmm I guess. Oh! The song! Today we have Capricho Arabe Serenata by Francisca. Kat says 'This song has always evoked feelings of quiet refle, though perhaps the memories jured up by the music aren't always the most pleasant. The incredibly excited passage at the beginning quickly fades into a more rexed melody, which has a wonderful sense of motion as it carries us through our thoughts.' Gosh, she's wonderful, isn't she? It's so adorable how passionate she is about her music!"
Regardless of what Tab has pnned for you, hopefully it'll be a nice break from all the training.
"Wouldn't that be nice? Ugh, we haven't even started delvi and I'm already dreaming about when we'll be finished."
It'll only be a few weeks, right? That's not terrible. Plus, until then, Kat's kinda living with you, isn't she?
"...Oh my god, are we teically living together right now?"
You know, maybe I shouldn't have said anything.
Until ime! Nyx <3
