Once back outside, after quickly showing Katrina the pit she’d started for Elias, Alicia returo her practice. At this point, while she still put everything she had into improving, the y of learning to fight had started to wear thin. During one of their short breaks, she thought about the timeframe they were w with, about how they only had a few weeks to beat the Dungeon. They were going to need all the time they could get, which meant delving and fight training were going to be a part of her daily life for the foreseeable future.

  Thankfully, even as practice became more routi was obvious that Tabitha was a great person. Had Aliot known about her cam work, she still would have guessed that the Foxgirl was great with people. It seemed effortless for her to read Alicia’s movement, switch up methods when Alicia was growing tired of a specific move, and offer breaks when needed.

  Alicia, for her part, had begun w if her Dryad physiology might offer any unique bes in bat. She began experimenting with her ability to trol pnts, trying to shift the terrain to her advantage and trip Tabitha up. While her trol oended so far, and she couldly summon vio instantly trip Tabitha, she felt fident it was something worth expl. She also remembered that she was able to grow roots from her own body, and had started rooting her feet to the ground whenever she wanted a stroance.

  In the background, Katrina tinued providing music for the training batants as she iterated on her spells. The music wasn’t quite as performative, she frequently stopped aarted ses as she wrestled with her newly discovered magic, but it was beautiful to listen to heless.

  By the end of the night, Kat had ted two new spells in her repertoire; a S and a quick, magical push that would hopefully keep enemies away from her. She practiced her s on Tabitha, with the Foxgirl’s sent of course, and spent a solid minute marveling at her incredible Ten; she had 25 Agility and 21 Dexterity even before applying her own Attribute Boosting spells.

  As excited as Alicia was to see Kat so excited about delving and expl her magic, the Dryad began feeling a twinge of jealousy; this was the sed time tonight that Kat had gushed about anirl.

  She had a feeling Tabitha noticed something, as they eraining earlier than they had yesterday. The Fave her a big hug, squeeziight and gratuting her on her hard work, theurned home to give them some space.

  “Whew,” Kat said as they walked inside, “what a night! You get a lot doh Tabitha? It seemed like you were making great progress, though admittedly I ending a lot of time with my own practice. She seemed impressed, if nothing else.”

  “Um, yeah it went well,” Alicia said quietly.

  “Alicia? Hey, is everything alright?”

  Alicia paused, irely sure how to voice her thoughts. She wao be open about what she was thinking, but it had been so long since she’d engaged with these kinds of social dynamics. “I-I’m irely sure how to phrase this, but… I guess I’m feeling a little self-sciht now. It’s really cute seeing you get excited about all this delving stuff, but seeing you rant and rave about that streamer, and then about Tabitha’s Ten…”

  There was a small moment of hesitation before Kat responded. Her eyes were unfocused, darting bad forth across nothing in particur, and Alicia suspected she was bing through her memories from the st few hours. “Shoot, Alicia, I… I didn’t mean it like that, I promise. I’m thrilled to be with you, Alicia, I really am, and I’m sorry I made you feel that way.” The two hugged tightly as Alicia buried her fa Kat’s shirt.

  “I’m sorry t it up, this is just all so o me, and I guess I got a little used to having you all to myself. It’s my first time dating post-ge, and everything is so different now,” Alicia said. “I don’t want to ruin our first week as a couple by getting all moody like this.”

  “Hey, don’t say that.” Kat moved closer, cupping the side of Alicia’s fad tilting her head higher. Their eyes met before Kat spoke up again. “You’re amazing, and I want to hear these things. Tell you what, how about we go sit in our floor bed, and you share everything you’re worried about. Holy, isn’t the start of a retionship the best time to do this?”

  Aliodded quickly. “O-okay.”

  Ohe girls were ba Alicia’s bedroom, they sat on their massive pile of bs and looked at each other. Katrina spoke first, gently grabbing Alicia’s hands. “Tell me everything, Alicia. I want this to be the best retionship we’ve ever had.”

  “I don’t know, I guess I’m just a little jealous. I was talking with Tabitha before you woke up, and she told me how camming actually got really difficult after sex work was legalized. About how hard it is to stand out against Succubi and all the other Races that get huge Charisma bonuses. When you got all excited about Tab and that Syer person, I think maybe I was a little nervous that you’d rather be with someone like that. Someoh a crazy Ten that’s super popur and stuff.”

  Katrina squeezed Alicia’s hand tight, only speaking up when she knew Alicia had finished. “Y’know, I don’t think it’s e up much, but I’m a pretty introverted person. Yes, i years I shut myself off because of my Race, but even before the ge I wasn’t very sociable. You want to know my favorite thing about us? I be myself around you.”

  “Well, yeah, but maybe you could do that with Tabitha too,” Alicia said, sniffling.

  “Please, Tabitha ft out admitted she likes to push people’s buttons. I don’t want a retionship to be a challenge, I want it to be fortable and supp. Plus, dating someone famous sounds like it would be so much work. When you and I went to the Dungeon Camp, no one knee were, and I loved that.”

  Alicia didn’t say anything at first, instead, turning away from Kat before leaning bato her p. “I have heard that dating celebrities be a challenge.”

  “Ahing? Once people get a high enough Charisma, it bees supernaturally powerful. Like, you physically ’t stop yourself from staring at them, and that holy sounds really stressful.”

  “I sometimes have trouble not staring at you, Kat,” Alicia admitted with a smirk.

  “And I only have een Charisma! Imagine someoh forty; how are you supposed to get anything done when you’re living with someone whose very presence is practically a mind-altering drug? With how much the ge rewired my brain, I’ve had more than my fill of unnatural urges and desires, thank you.” Katrina’s hands settled on Alica’s shoulders before she tinued. “I’m happy with you, Alicia. I’m n to ge the topic away from your feelings, I’m sorry if it seemed like that. I think I’m just trying to say that a person’s Ten isn’t who they are. Someoh thirty Wisdom might not be kind, someoh thirty Charisma might not be empathetic. It’s not a fluke that we’re together, and I would choose you again in a heartbeat. Even if TheSexiestSyer were here.”

  Alicia found herself giggling, and she pulled Kat’s hands closer in a makeshift hug. “I never really thought of that, I guess.”

  Katrina leaned dowly kissing Alicia before speaking up again. “Was there anything else?”

  “Um, actually, this isn’t something I was worried about, but since we’re talking about the retionship… Tabitha asked me earlier if we’re pnning on being monogamous.”

  “Seriously?” Kat asked, and Aliodded iurn. There was another pause before she tinued. “That certainly sounds like her. I’ve always been monogamous in the past, but that was more from circumstaher than personal choice. In theory, I’m not against it, but… I really don’t think this is the right time to make that decision. We only just got together, Alicia, and I want to focus on you. This is my first real, ho retionship sihe ge, and I still don’t know who I am when I’m not alone. Because of you, I think I’m starting to figure that out, but it’s a process that ime.”

  The girls squeezed each other, and Alicia could hear the weight ihing Kat was saying. Before she responded, she took just as long to collect her thoughts. “I think you’re right. Like you said, I’m used to being alooo. It wouldn’t feel right to add someone else to the mix wheill don’t uand who we are as a couple.”

  Kat squeezed Alicia tight. “How about, if Tab asks again, we just say we’re focused on us right now.”

  “I like that.” Alicia sat up again, grabbing Kat’s fad eagerly kissing her. “Look at us, being a real couple and talking about feelings aionship dynamid stuff. Thanks for listening, Kat. I was kinda nervous t this all up, and I appreciate you taking it seriously.”

  “Anything for you, Alicia. And, moving forward, I’ll try to be more mindful when I’m talking about delving stuff. Do you want to cuddle up a some sleep?”

  Aliodded quickly, then got off the bed to free up the bs. After rearranging everything back to normal, the girls crawled uhem and got back to cuddling. This time, rather than burying herself in Kat’s shoulder, Alicia was the little spoon for the night. Just like yesterday, the stress from all her sparring practice caught up with her pretty quickly, and she knew she would be in for another sore m. With Katrina holding her, everythi right, and she fell asleep within minutes.

  —

  "Ugh, Nyx, retionships are hard."

  You mean your talk with Alicia? I thought it went pretty well.

  "I feel so bad! It's been so long since I've dated anyone, and I've got to learn all these Post-ge dating rules now!"

  I mean, even before the ge, retionships worked best when people just talked about their feelings. As long as you keep doing that, I think it'll be alright.

  "Maybe I should get her some flowers or something... wait, would that be rude?"

  What if you just pyed her a song? And, speaking of, isn't that why you're here?

  "Oh, shoot, that's right. So, today's song is La Peregrina by Ariel Ramirez. It's short and sweeet, and holy it's probably not as dynamic as this chapter is, but I still think it fits. To me, this song feels appropriately busy for everything that's going on. We're sparring, learning magic, practig delving stuff, all that stuff. This song doesn't start strong, it moreso fades in, which I think is fitting, and then the melody is very active without making too many strong decisions."

  It's a lovely song! Thanks for stopping by, as always.

  "Wait, you're thanking me? Alicia might be rubbing off on me..."

  Well, I think it's great. See ya!

  Nyx