Karl climbed back up into the fort, followed by Bob, and found Doug already relaxing next to Lotus as he wove spells over Dana’s robes.
The mage was looking at the armour that had been recovered from the traitors with great interest.
“You know, this looks like it would be easy to move in, and wouldn’t interfere with my casting. Do you suppose that I could start wearing normal clothes for a change, instead of enchanted mage robes, if I had something like this for defence?” She asked.
Doug shrugged. “I don’t see why not. What did you have in mind?”
“I would appreciate it if I could just wear pants and a hoodie like a normal human being. Mage robes feel far too much like a dress, and I’m worried that I’m becoming too used to the skirts.” Dana replied.
“Why is that bad? I kind of like the breeze.” Doug asked.
“I’m not a Nature Priestess. I am actually fond of wearing pants.”
Doug shrugged. “That’s a bit weird, but I can make you a normal outfit to go over your armour if you like? Pants and a hoodie.”
Lotus bonked him on the head with the side of her fist. “I will do it. I have seen your fashion sense, and it’s better that I pick out her outfit. We both use the same spell to weave cloth anyhow.”
They bickered as they finished repairing the armour, and then Dana changed out of her robes to reveal that she had claimed one of the traitors’ armour sets for herself.
Lotus booed her as she removed her spare robes, and Dana poked the cleric in the forehead.
“I’m changing into my armour so you can make normal clothes to go over it, not giving everyone a strip show.”
Lotus shrugged. She was already bored, sitting here repairing armour for over an hour, and she needed entertainment.
Dana had changed from the fur boots of the Frost Giant campaign back to the black combat boots that the Academy issued students for missions, So, Lotus was about to make a matching black hoodie for the mage, but Rae was faster.
Dana was rapidly engulfed in a cocoon of silk as the Bloodbath Spider wove her magic from the exterior wall of the fort, aiming through the door.
“What is Rae doing?” Lotus whispered to Karl as the mage vanished.
“Decorating her Dana, I guess.”
Doug tried and failed to stop his laughter, while Lotus rolled her eyes.
“Aren’t you supposed to be a good father, raising them with values and morals?” Ophelia asked.
Karl shook his head. “I don’t think that’s how it works. They already have morals and values, I just teach them the human rules.”
“Have you taught them about bodily autonomy and the value of consent?” Lotus asked.
“I mean, they’re a bit young for that…”
Now it was Karl’s turn to get thumped on the head. “Not like that. You’re supposed to teach them to ask before doing things like wrapping people in a ball of web.”
Rae gave Lotus a look that said she definitely didn’t understand.
[That’s not how gifts work.]
[I know that, and you know that, but I don’t think Lotus understands that this is a gift yet.]
“Rae says it’s a gift. You don’t ask before giving gifts, you just give them.” Karl explained.
“A gift? Alright, I suppose that makes sense.” Lotus relented.
She was actually excited to see what the mage was going to come out looking like, given Rae’s unique personality. For all that anyone knew, Dana might come out looking like something out of a vampire romance novel.
Officially, those were Vampire Species Propaganda, but they still managed to get a rather large following among the dark fantasy readers and goth girls.
After most of a minute of manipulating her webs, Rae gave the cocoon a slice with her foreleg, revealing Dana in all her newfound glory. She was wearing cargo pants and a hoodie as promised, both in jet black, but the hoodie was short, showing the chain mail around her midriff, while the pants were loose, with plenty of pockets.
Both were made of Commander Rank spider silk, woven thick, and in the case of the hoodies, loosely, to give it a soft surface, similar to fleece.
Dana turned to inspect herself, and Karl noticed that there was a huge picture of Rae on the back of her hoodie in white thread.
“I have pockets.” Dana noted with pleasure, before stepping to the door to give Rae a hug.
“Is that not normal?” Karl whispered to Doug.
“Women’s clothing never has pockets for some reason. It’s one of the reasons that Priestesses like wearing their robes so much, there are proper pockets.” The High Priest whispered back.
Dana pulled her mass of curly hair up out of the hoodie and pushed the hood back.
“Ah, that’s better, it’s too warm to have the hood up. But this outfit is wonderful. Oh, it even has a front zipper, sort of.”
It wasn’t actually a zipper, but a laced front tie because Rae didn’t know how to make a zipper. But it did let her untie the hoodie a little for ventilation when she wasn’t in combat.
Dana focused, and the outfit vanished, replaced by her school uniform, then returned.
“That is incredible, it’s even bonded, so I can just change clothes. Thank you, Rae. This is a wonderful gift.”
Dana removed her armour and leaned back against the soft wall of the fort, completely satisfied with her new look.
“You know, before I came to the Academy, this was much more fancy than anything I got to wear. My dad had a hard time holding a job, and mom was home with the kids, so we never had new anything, and we always ended up with those horrid coveralls that the clergy pass out to impoverished kids.” She reminisced.
“I knew you lived in a small town, but I didn’t know it was that bad.” Karl noted.
“Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn’t, but dad was always cheap, so he always went to the church for clothing donations. They were used to seeing us at every handout from the times he wasn’t working, so nobody asked questions.
You know, I never expected to be the one to be compatible with the Serum. My older sister was always the one who was good at everything, the gifted child who could do no wrong. At least, she was until she ran off with her boyfriend a little over a year ago.” She laughed.
Ophelia smiled at some memory and nodded in agreement. “You know, I always used to be so certain that I would become a powerful mage. I could see it, my whole future as an Idol, singing and showing off my magic.
Imagine my shock when I was actually an Elite, but I became a Berserker.”
Dana laughed. “Honestly, your dream is my nightmare. I hate being in the spotlight, or having people staring at me. But the moment that I got to the Academy, they decided that I had that ‘girl next door look’ and a voice that they wanted for the next round of Idols, so I got shunted off into the idol training courses despite my protests.”
Ophelia frowned for a second. “You know, we don’t have many female bards at the Academy. Just Seamus and a bunch of horny bards, who want to use their music to pick up girls.”
