Thankfully, Alicia didn’t have to wait long for pany to return. Roughly half an hour ter, she found Katrina walking dowreet with a backpad duffle bag. Apart from sharing taformation st night, Katrina had also asked for permission t an ht bag with her. Aliearly broke her phoyping back her enthusiastic approval.

  “Hey, Kat!” Alicia ran up to Katrina, throwing her hands around her shoulders and passionately kissing her.

  “Hey yourself, Alicia!” Katrina dropped the duffle bag, happily pig up the Dryad and spinning her around before setting her down. “Yoing to spoil me at this rate. What happens when I get used to you greeting me by jumping into my arms?”

  “Oh no, what a terrible fate that would be!” Alicia dramatically pced a hand against her forehead, feigning that she was on the verge of passing out.

  Katrina smiled as she picked up her bag again, thewo set off for Alicia’s house. “You’re in an awfully good mood today, it’s cute.”

  Alicia felt herself blushing. She grabbed Katrina’s free hand as they walked. “Well, for ohing, I’ve got this new girlfriend that I really like. But! In all seriousness, I also spent like, all day talking with Elias!”

  “Dang, really? You two get along, I take it?”

  “Yeah! We have so mu on! He retty bummed that he couldn’t help with the Dungeon, but we talked about our ge, and about our jobs, our Csses, all that stuff. Anyways, I was showing him the river I built when he came up with a really cool idea; he thinks he build a little pond for himself and spend a few weeks out here!”

  “What would he do? Just like, moral support, or…?” Katrina asked.

  “He said he’s got some healing abilities, and that he’d be able to help us recover from Dungeon runs. That means we won’t o rely entirely on yen Buffs!”

  Katrina was clearly surprised, but she also couldn’t stop smiling. “Alicia, that’s amazing! I never would have thought of that!”

  “So, I figure after we have our first meeting with Tabitha, ut together a game pn, and figure out a good time for him to take a few weeks off work and join us!” The two girls were now inside and had settled on the couch again. “Actually, speaking of Tabitha, when is that supposed to happen?”

  “It’s funny you should ask, holy. She’s pnning on ing over tonight. I told her to get here in an hour or so, mostly because… well, I wanted some time aloh you before the pnning started.”

  “Aww, gay.” Alicia smirked, briefly ughing to herself before leaning in for a kiss. “So, what does a Vampire put in an ht bag?”

  “Nothing special. Mostly things you’d expect; toothbrush, spare clothes, but also my st blood ration. I’ll have to swing by my iorrow to pick up more, and then I’ll be set for the week. Where should I set my things up?”

  “Well, that’s mostly up to you. Obviously the living room is yours if you want it, you’ve already crashed on the couce, and I already blocked off the windows.” Alicia paused for a moment, almost nervous to tinue. “Or… we could take a buny old bs, set up a little camp in my room, and try to figure out if I safely sleep outside my Heart Tree.”

  The girls looked at each other, Alicia desperately hoping the Kat would pick the sed option. Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait long for the answer.

  “I love that! We’ll have more time to spread out that way, too. We should figure out a sleep schedule, too, holy. Like you said, I’m noal, you’re not, and that might make things difficult.”

  “I’m trying to push my schedule as te as possible, and staying up really te yesterday helped.” Alicia helped Kat pick up her things again, and the two headed upstairs. After showing Kat the bathroom, Alicia ran to her old linen closet and grabbed a giant pile of bs. They seemed to be iy good shape, thankfully, and she started spreading them out on the floor.

  By the time Kat had set up all her toiletries ihroom, Alicia had finished ying out the bs. The Vampire ehe room, smiled, and then looked around. “So, this is your room?”

  “Yeah! Let me show you around!” Alicia grabbed Kat’s hand, then started a tour of all the memorabilia in her room.

  Alicia was so excited to spend time with Kat, she rambled for far lohan expected. Dozens of old memories returo her as she started looking over all her old stuff, and she shared everything with Kat. “—and this was the picture we all took on Prom night! That ohere was Aiya, and then I’m over here with my date fht, but I already told you how that all panned out.”

  Katrina leaned closer to look at the picture. “Wow. So that’s what you looked like before the ge?”

  “That’s right, I never showed you any pictures! Let me boot up my puter, I’ll show you some more!”

  Within minutes, Alicia was scrolling through old photos she’d uploaded to her puter many years ago. It was strange seeing her old self, so unaware of how dramatically her life was going to be uprooted. Well, more accurately, rooted. Very, very rooted.

  Before turning into a pnt, she’d had incredibly dark brown skin, brown eyes, and thick bck hair that had regurly been fashioned into dreadlocks. She’d spent so much time perfeg all the different ways to do her hair, she nretted that she wasn’t able to use those skills anymore. Her hair now, although it wasn’t as thick, didn’t need anywhere near as much upkeep. It still vaguely resembled dreadlocks, but now it looked more like a colle of moss, vines, and flowers you might find on a forest floor.

  Katrina spoke up again, shaking Alicia from her memories. “Not that it matters now, but old me would have been quite smitten with old you.”

  The two kissed, though Alicia couldn’t stop herself from giggling. “Oh, stop it you.” She briefly remembered the forum she’d signed up for the other day, and thought about cheg it with Katrina, but she didn’t want to think about Dungeon stuff yet.

  Instead, she shut her puter down and tihe small tour of the rest of her bedroom. She showed off all her old clothes, even them to Katrina since she had no need for them. The Vampire had eagerly started looking through the closet, holding up various pieces in front of her while looking in Alicia’s standing mirror.

  “Actually, this one might look really cute on me. Mind if I try it on?” Katrina said.

  Alicia shook her head, eager to see her clothes finally get some use after all these years. What she wasn’t expeg, however, was to look back at Kat just in time to see her pull her shirt off. She blushed with sutensity that she was shocked flowers didn’t pop out of her head. She didn’t know where to look first, or if she should even be looking at all.

  Why wouldn’t I look? She’s my girlfriend, right? If she’s undressing in front of me, that clearly means she’s fortable with me seeing her.

  She found herself staring first at Katrina’s stomach. It was just as pale as the rest of her, but ft and toned, with clearly visible abs. Above her stomach, a simple bck bra tained her impressively rge bust, a signifit amount of cleavage now on dispy with her shirt off. Alicia had a few seds to look before Kat firying on the shirt.

  “Well, what do you think?” Kat asked, finally looking back at Alicia.

  “I, um… what?” Alicia mao say, her eyes meeting Kat’s again.

  “Oh my god, were you not ready to see me ge in front of you? You said I could try the shirt on, and I just thought— ugh, I’m sorry! I should have crified!” Kat moved closer, pulling iill shocked Alicia for a hug.

  “No! It’s okay, I would have said yes anyways, I just wasirely ready. Besides, now that I’m thinking about it, you’ve probably seen way more of me than I have of you.”

  Surprisingly, Alicia caught Kat blushing this time. “Well, kinda, yeah. I’m a little used to it now, but… I certainly won’t pin about the view.”

  Both girls started ughing to themselves, the tension thankfully dispersing just as quickly as it had appeared. After a few minutes, as they started to calm down, Alicia realized she should probably ahe inal question. She was just about to open her mouth when the sound of a doorbell interrupted her.

  —

  "You didn't bring back Elias just for me, did you?"

  Hey, you're the ohat reached out to him and got him in touch with Alicia.

  "Okay, yeah, but—"

  Maybe, radical idea, if you reach out to people, you're rewarded with cool new friends?

  "I think you should write yourself a soapbox, 'cuz you're sounding a little preachy right now."

  How about, instead of bickering, you tell me about this chapter's song?

  "That does sounds better than chastising you... a bit. Anyways, today's song is Sonate en majeur, K. 208: Adagio e tabile by Domenico Scartti. This one has historically been pyed on a few different instruments, so make sure you find a guitar rec, okay? This song is very peaceful, but always felt very reflective to me. As if the poser wao ence the audieo look inwards, to take a moment to appreciate what's around you. The st minute or so even risks bringing in hints of something darker, building a bit of tension before beginning to dance around a proper resolution. It was o have somethiively simple this week."

  Feeling a little peonight, are we?

  "I mean... yeah. It's been a wild week."

  It teically hasn't even been a full week yet.

  "Seriously? Wow, that's crazy. I do o be off, though.”

  Until ime! Nyx <3