[PP|F4]<<Training Your Friend>>

[Shay 0]

Shay watched Chase pick up her own clothing that she wears under her armor. That wasn't supposed to be in that pile. "Oh, hey w-" Before she was able to even get words out, Chase was already in the other room changing into her clothes. Shay pinched the bridge of her nose. She knew that this was going to look completely awkward. Finally after some time, Chase came out of the room, wearing her clothes.

"Uh..." Shay says looking at how the difference in their body types made the clothes fit somewhat less snug than they should. Her chest was smaller than Shay's so the front was baggy and the skirt was a little shorter on her legs. "Th-That looks a little weird, I think. The darker colors don't really suit you as much as the bright. I still think it looks nice though." Shay scratched the back of the head, trying not too look at her bare legs too much.

Spoiler

Name: Shay
Level: 24
HP: 480/480
EN: 48/48

Stats:
Damage: 9
Evasion: 3
Accuracy: 2
BLD: 12
REC: 2

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: (Katana)Murasame α: BLD 2; DMG 1
Armor: Leather Overcoat: EVA 3
Misc: Deep Red Tie: Recovery 2; ACC 1

Skills:
Curved Sword [Rank 1]
Katana [Rank 5]

Extra Skills:

Mods:
Precision

Battle Ready Inventory:
Teleportation Crystal*1
Incarceration*2
T1 Mass HP Rec. II*1
T1 HP Rec. I*2
T1 Instant HP Rec. I*2

Housing Buffs:

Guild Hall Buffs:
Lucrative: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters receive +1 crafting attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters receive +2 crafting attempts per day.
Col Deposit: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Scents of the Wild:

Wedding Ring:

 

[ChaseR 0]

Chase kept a light blush on her cheeks, nodding and looking down at her form as she furrowed her eyebrows. "Y-You think it's weird huh? The skirt is a bit skimpy, but it looks much better on you.", she commented, looking at Shay before shrugging it off. "So this is how Shay feels when she's wearing her clothes... The gloves and arm guards I don't get, but that's fine, it is what it is~.", she thought in the back of her head, clapping her hands together and offering a small smile to Shay. "Let's go downstairs anyways. I'm fine with these since we're alone."

It hadn't struck her yet that she was acting completely out of character, but the potion and the hormones that came along with the gender change were probably to blame for it. She was acting much too bubbly and surprisingly, had fully come out of her shell when only Shay was around and they were in private. "Any plans?", she asked and looked over her shoulder as they moved towards the lower floor, eventually turning around to look at her as she held both hands in front of herself.

Spoiler

Name: ChaseR
Level: 29
HP: 580/580
EN: 58/58

Stats:
Damage: 14
Mitigation: 5
Evasion: 3
Accuracy: 3
REC:2

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: <<Gust Raiser>> (T2/Perfect/2HSS): DMG II, ACC I
Armor: <<Wind Dweller>> (T2/Perfect/Light Armor): EVA I, REC II
Misc: <<Chained Bracelet>> (T2/Perfect/Trinket): EVA II, ACC I

Skills:
Two-Handed Straight Sword [Rank 5]
Light Armor [Rank 1]
Battle Healing [Rank 1]

Extra Skills:
Familiar Mastery: Fighter
Survival
Disguise

Mods:
2HSS Finesse [R3]
Precision

Battle Ready Inventory:
Starter Healing Potions(heal 50HP)*3
T1 Mochi (LD +3)*1
T1 Rare Health Potions (heal 40HP)*2
Spyglass (2/3)*1
Requires Extended Weight Limit 1
Requires Extended Weight Limit 2
Requires Extended Weight Limit 3
Obtained via Item Stash (Housing)
Obtained via Dimensional Backpack

Housing Buffs:

Guild Hall Buffs:

Scents of the Wild:

Wedding Ring:

 

[Shay 0]

Shay cocked an eyebrow to the girl. It must feel weird to be wearing those clothes, especially without a bra... Wait a second, was he wearing her underwear? That made her blush more than anything, but she wouldn't bring it up.

As they moved into the main room, Shay jumped down from the ladder up into her room and onto the ground floor with a light landing. Chase brought up what they were going to do now that they had relaxed a little, but after how stressful that last quest went, she didn't want to subject him to anything else that would stress him out. Plus, would he really last trying to fight with breasts? That would be kind of funny to see actually.

"I think we can just take a break for now since you're, you know. Not really yourself right now." Shay said, gesturing to his newly formed body.

[ChaseR 0]

The bluenette gave a simple nod to the rogue, letting out a deep sigh and throwing her arms in the air. It's not like she was wrong, but... Yeah, it was probably for the best if they stayed over. She tried to sit down, holding her skirt slightly to plop onto the ground and not sit on it, finding the choice of clothing rather odd to get used to. "I'm honestly curious how you even manage to move around in these in combat... Doesn't the skirt get in the way any?", she asked as she ended up sitting with her legs by the side, an arm on the floor to keep her balance and the other arm on her hips, sort of a statue-like pose.

It was what felt most comfortable at this point, given there was no mattress and she didn't want to get intimate with the floor. "Your familiar? How's it doing? H-Hey, you should train it.", she suggested without leaving much room for an answer, pointing at Grace Eon with her free hand.

[Shay 0]

Shay observed the girl sitting down on the mattress that she was using a bed for the last few days in Shay's home. She was making commentary over how skirts were probably pretty annoying to wear to fight into battle. "Why?" She asked. "Is it not the same as wearing a pair of shorts or something? I mean, if you're worried about showing off your underwear by accident, you just wear a pair of shorts under the skirt."

Then she mentioned training her familiar. She hadn't expected to be training it the moment that she got it, but still might as well get it done for now. "Yeah I guess." She said looking over to Grace, who was sitting on the piano bench. "Grace, you seem like a pretty strong fighter, would you like to help me fight?" She asked her familiar only to get a cocked head in return. Grace simply seemed confused as Shay asked her question.

---

Training Familiar Failure [0/3]

[ChaseR 0]

Chase shook her head at the girl's answer. "No, not quite. Shorts don't flap around left and right at the slightest movement, plus they're clothes. Skirts are kind of like... decorative ornaments, the way I see it. You get me?", she silently rubbed the back of her neck, and then Shay turned her attention to the familiar. She began to freak out momentarily, thinking that they would try to practice an attack the same as Blizz did, who curiously climbed up the piano and looked at Grace, tapping its tail silently with his claws.

"Holy shit, Grace doesn't even want to fight..? I just asked Blizz and we got to it.", blue spoke before letting out a sigh, realising that the familiar her friend had just picked up was probably going to be more stubborn than Chase herself is. "This is going to take a long while... At least Blizz tried out the moves before learning them instead of outright refusing..."

[Shay 0]

"Skirts are clothing, what the hell are you talking about?" She asked. Describing a skirt as a decoration made it feel like it was something that you were supposed to hand on your Christmas tree. "You just have to learn how to wear them. You're doing a good job already with the way you're sitting at least." This female Chase situation was getting weirder and weirder the longer it went on.

She turned her attention back to Grace, who was now breathing cold, frozen air onto the other familiar in retaliation. Blizz obviously resisted the attack the Grace was performing on it, but it was still a bit of sassy answer to a light jab. "Well, you'll come around to it. I'm not going to push you to want to fight with me so we'll work on it." Shay says in response, giving the familiar a pet on the head and small smile. Grace responded with a beautiful mewl.

[ChaseR 0]

Blizz didn't appear to care any about the frigid air, maybe even appreciating it rather than seeing it as an attack. He too, breathed back the same cold air onto her tail, before croaking and trying to clap his hands together, although they didn't quite reach. He'd surely inherited the obliviousness of Chase in some aspects, that was for sure. Chase on the other hand looked at Grace, feeling her heart warm up just slightly at the cute mewl. Getting back to the talk about skirts with Shay though.

"Well, yeah, but they're clothes you put on over others only. You can't just wear a skirt and be done with it. And I mean, clothing is meant to keep you warm, but skirts don't really do that. I look pretty cute, but that's about it. I can't say it's really covering me any, given how much my... legs... show..?", her voice drowned out as she began to realise that just like every single piece of clothing, skirts were the same. If you were too thin or tall compared to someone, they'd certainly fit much differently. And given the height difference, that they surely did. 

[Shay 0]

"I think you're looking at this topic without really thinking about what your saying, Chase. How much longer does that timer have until you turn back? I would hate for you to turn back into your regular self and rip any of my clothing." She said, keeping her focus on the glacial familiars who were just having a little battle of cold attacks with each other. She sighed quietly thinking about this whole situation where they were now a couple. What the hell was she supposed to do about that? It was too weird to talk about it right now with him being a her.

"Hey, Grace, you seem like you would only use your attacks to defend yourself. I really like that about you. Only using your power when necessary to make sure that you survive but don't lose control. If we work together, we can protect each other and being stronger as unit than we are as a single entity. So help me fight."

[ChaseR 0]

Chase was about to retaliate one more time, before she asked quite the good question herself. She curiously opened her menu, looking at the timer only to start stuttering and making noises of confusion and panic. She practically became but a blur that headed straight for the changing room, staying there for... a fair few minutes at least. With the timer having left her a minute or two to get the clothes off or else be forced to crossdress, she didn't want anything to do with the latter and decided to make a run for her life instead.

Blizz' breath kept getting colder and colder as the two worked like air conditioners for one another by now, hopping up and down on the piano's back in excitement and croaking in between breaths. The bluehead that'd transformed back into his normal self slowly entered the room again, holding his head with a groggy look on his face as he groaned and just dropped on the mattress, holding Shay's clothes in his one hand all together. "This is so exhausting... I feel even more tired than before, ungh... You don't mind if I stayed laid down for a bit, right?"

[Shay 0]

Shay reached down and collected her clothing from Chase's hand. These were her clothes after all, and he could have just left them upstairs. She looked up the ladder and threw her clothes up on the upstairs room's floor. "I think you look best like this, though." She mentions, not really acknowledging the question that he asked her.

Moving back over to the familiar, who was still too busy playing with the other one, she sighed. This was going to be a little harder to do than she thought that it would be. It seemed like Grace was too uninterested in fighting right now. Maybe they would be able to work that into her in the future.

Sitting down on the bench, she looked over to Chase and rested her head into her hand, crossing her legs. "So, what was it like to be a girl?" She asked, genuinely curious.

---

Training Failure.

[ChaseR 0]

He looked at her, smiling awkwardly and shrugging. "It felt... weird? My chest was heavier but I was shorter and I kept running my mouth. I also felt a bit... off balance? I can't describe it. I-It was weird wearing clothing I've never worn before, too.", the bluenette simply sighed, crawling a bit closer and trying to get up, taking two or three attempts before he eventually managed to. Chase moved on to sit next to Shay, rubbing the back of his neck. "I got two gender swapping potions and a relaxation one from the sixth floor, and I got them mixed up. There was that one store that gave samples."

Now that she knew where he'd supplied the potions from, it was easy to see him just slipping one slot too low on his menu and accidentally taking one out rather than the other. "Anyways... So...", the boy tried to go back for the conversation they were having before, even if he did feel a little bit lightheaded. "... No idea what to do either, huh?"

[Shay 0]

"Looks like it won't be as easy to train my familiar as I thought it would be. She seemed to be a relatively reserved one, probably only fighting for self defense. Might take a while before she willingly helps me fight." Shay said, sitting a little awkwardly as Chase sat next to her now. It was a little more difficult to sit next to him when he was back to his normal self.

"So, um, now we're dating or something. That's... cool I guess. I have no idea what it really entails. I guess it just means that we both really like each other." It was about now that she remembered him talking about some girl that was alive back in the real world. "Uh, hey wait, don't you have someone back in the real world who's waiting for you to escape the game? Should we really be thinking about dating when there's someone else you like?"

[ChaseR 0]

The question did catch Chase slightly off guard, but he looked down at his hands, holding them together and fiddling with his thumbs as he let out a deep sigh. "Nah, me and Lily aren't really... She's the only friend I've had for years. I don't want to get in a relationship with her and risk it all. Plus, she's enough of an idiot to try beating the game from out there just to find me.", he muttered to himself with some slight melancholy in his voice, letting out another sigh and looking over at Shay with a small frown.

"I love her as a friend, but... I wouldn't do that to her. Or anybody else in that regard. It's just... I'm weaker here. I feel that way. There's little I can do to keep myself in high spirits, and I have to get used to this world somehow. You helped a lot, right? So... I feel really indebted to you. And... I don't know how to pay it off. I want to protect you and keep you safe, still.", his ramblings went on and on, but they seemed to be getting somewhere. "It's just a pure feeling I've got. Towards you, I mean."

[Shay 0]

Shay was quiet as Chase poured out his heart to her. It made a lot of sense that he didn't want to ruin his friendship with the girl on the other side, but she wondered just how much that girl felt the same. Maybe she wanted to take the relationship further with him. But if that's not what he wanted, then there was no reason to get upset about it. As he talked about wanting to protect her, she felt as though she might cry. No one had ever said anything like that to her. How was she supposed to react to all this?

Swiveling in her seat, the girl sat with her legs on each side of the bench and leaned her head on Chase's shoulder, quietly moving into a hug with him. There was something of a tender moment going on, and she couldn't find the words to break it by saying something out loud that would ruin it.

[ChaseR 0]

Silence took over the room, with the exception of the two familiars fighting among one another. Chase's heart beat loud enough to be able to hear in his head as soon as Shay leaned in and hug him, and he shortly returned the hug, swallowing dryly and looking down at her head for a moment. With a drawn out exhale, he tightened his grip a bit and muttered lowly. "This feels... warm.", he silently commented before letting silence take over once more. 

It was so odd that rather than experiencing something like this in the real world, he'd gotten to it in a simulation of what the real world could be. The rules and ways it worked were all that much different, but his feelings and senses were as accurate as ever. This was definitely the warmth of a human, and his heart was what he heard beat so loudly, racing faster than before. "Th-This feeling... So this is what it means to be a couple..?"

[Shay 0]

Shay's heartbeat raced just as much as Chase's did. It was heart to contain the thrill of the feeling of love. It wasn't something that she had ever felt for another human being, nor did she ever think it was something that she would experience herself. Especially not in video game like this. Though, if it had been in real life, it would likely have been a power move by her parents for her to get a higher seating, and she would have hated something like that.

"I... I like it." Shay quietly commented, not letting go of the hug for now. The two familiars were having something of a war in the background, but Shay was too invested on this moment to break her attention free from it. Grace and Blizz on the other hand were busy seeing which one of them could be colder with their frozen attacks.

---

Familiar Training Success [1/3]

[ChaseR 0]

It was one of the few times that the duo had gotten to spend some alone time all relaxed without worrying about monsters or quests, and relaxing like this was... certainly a treat. Chase was too tired for anything else, and that was fine as is. "... You look great, by the way. I... forgot to say that.", his voice almost lowered to a whisper as he begun to get a bit embarrassed, feeling almost like it was becoming cheesy to compliment one another like this now. He looked to the side for a moment to see the two familiars fighting, smiling a bit.

Chase still couldn't believe that this was but the first time for both of them to have gotten this 'intimate' with anyone. It wasn't forced either, just came as natural. Now he had more to owe to the pinkhead chef that he didn't like that much, other than the tank advice, the quality of life advice. As much as he hated to admit, maybe her ideas weren't that bad to begin with. "Sorry if I'm a pain. Or if I apologise too much."

[Shay 0]

"Stay the way you are." Shay commented, trying to ignore the noise from their familiars as she nudged her head against her significant other's shoulder. She was way too invested in this feeling right now and didn't want to let go of it. Even though the both of them were embracing each other, she still tried to scoot in closer to get a more comfortable seat between the both of them. Her eyes were closed like she was only focusing on both of their heartbeats, or whatever was emulating that feeling.

Meanwhile, Grace was only doing her best to show that she was the dominant ice-being in this room. Her attacks only got colder and colder as their fight continued, like the ice that Blizz attacked her with was only fueling her own attacks further. She mewled with some sass at the other familiar and blew a cold icy wind into the little guys face.

[ChaseR 0]

With a slight nod, Chase decided to remain silent and simply fix his grip around his raven partner once more. "I will. Sorry for saying that in the first place.", he ended up apologising once more, funnily enough sticking to being himself as Shay just told him to. In the meantime, Blizz eventually got overpowered since some ice flew right towards his eyes, causing them to close. And with his eyes closed, it became so hard to keep balance that he ended up toppling off of the piano, crying out as he dropped and curled into a ball.

The pangolin didn't expect anything like that, nor did it ever fight with another monster before to know that the cold could fuel one another's attacks. Maybe the same went for it, but... No way to know that, Blizz couldn't feel anything different about himself. He climbed back onto the piano, simply standing in front of Grace and holding one of his stubby arms out as if trying to apologise or make up to her somehow.