Inside-Outside-In

Shae

After a day of errands and a little relaxing before their mission tomorrow, night had fallen. Shae was sitting on her much comfier bed, reading a book.

She heard the water in the bathroom stop running, which meant Zena was done with her shower. The woman stepped out a couple minutes later wearing only a large shirt, her long, forked tongue instinctually tasting the air.

Oh my god…

Zena smiled, having gotten the reaction out of Shae that she wanted.

The woman noted, “You’re actually looking at me this time.”

“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to stare.”

“I meant for you to.”

“Oh. Uh, you look good?”

She giggled. “Thank you. Last time I showed this much skin, you couldn’t stop staring at my leg.”

“That’s because I was concentrating really hard on looking at something other than your body. I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“So that was it.”

“Yeah.” Deciding now was the time, Shae asked, “Would you like to go out with me?”

Zena sat next to her and asked, “Are you certain? You would be in a relationship with me in your current body, not your previous one.”

“Well… I’ve decided to indefinitely postpone my reshaping. Even if I still really needed it, I would still have a lot of things to take care of before I could finally afford it.
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“I’m used to this now, and it’s not as if looking like I do now is making my life difficult. It doesn’t really matter to me anymore. In all likelihood… I’ll probably never get it.”

“I see. As long as you’re certain, then my answer is yes. I would love to.”

Zena put her hand on Shae’s cheek, and the two slowly brought their lips together.

When they finally broke apart, Shae told her, “I’ve been wanting to do that since forever ago.”

Zena replied, “I have to admit, when I first saw you, it felt as if my heart had stopped. I feel incredibly lucky right now.”

“Are you kidding? I’m the lucky one here. You’ve been so nice to me since the beginning and you helped me deal with so much.”

“Nope. I’m the lucky one. You don’t mind my leg at all. A lot of people, even if they don’t really mind it in daily life, they’re still put off by the idea of getting close to someone with a prosthetic limb.”

“Fine, fine. We can both be lucky. Speaking of your leg, does Tria know about it? She’ll see it whenever she gets back.”

“She does. …Or perhaps not. She saw it one day after I stepped out of the shower. I hadn't had a chance to get dressed yet. Other than a brief glance, there was no reaction at all, and she never mentioned it afterward.”

“Oh. That’s good, then. Do you plan on ever telling the others?”

“I suppose I should, if only so that if something happens, they aren’t surprised by it or mad at me for keeping it secret.”

“If you tell them you’re secret, I’ll tell them mine, too.”

Zena smiled and pecked her cheek. “Thank you.”

The two women hugged each other and sighed happily.

When Tria came back, she didn’t care about Zena’s leg, the same as before.

 

———

 

Konial

Everyone had woken up early and was eating breakfast while the two lovebirds acted suspiciously.

Did they finally start dating?

A few minutes later, Zena’s face became serious, and she said, “There’s something I want to tell all of you.”

Really!? Finally!? Their constant distant flirting has been so annoying. Just get together already!

Melo asked, “What is it?”

“Well… I wanted to tell all of you that I have a prosthetic leg. I didn’t want to be judged for it, so I always kept it hidden. I hope my performance up until now will convince everyone it won’t be a problem. I’m sorry for keeping it a secret from you.”

Konial exclaimed, “Are you kidding me!? I thought you were going to tell us you finally got together with Shae, not this! Whatever, I know you can kick ass, so I don’t care.”

She blinked in surprise, “Uh, thank you for accepting me? Also, we did start dating.”

He huffed. “It’s about time.”

Melo interrupted Konial’s loudness, “You’ve certainly proven yourself, so I don’t mind. And congratulations. Like Konial, said, it’s about time.”

Shae awkwardly raised her hand, “Um, I have a secret to reveal, too. I had a lot more to deal with than just being thrown into a new world.”

Shae then explained her horrifying story of how she was turned inside out and died, turned into a woman, and then all the magic mental changes that followed afterward. She emphasized that she was fine now, and hoped we would treat her the same, but that it had been hard.

Konial commented, “Shit, Shae. That’s intense. Like with Zena, though, I don’t really care. I’m glad you’re doing okay now.”

Tria wrapped the tall woman in a side hug. “That’s so awful, Shae. I’m glad you’re doing better now.”

Melo added, “Yes, that was certainly a lot. I can’t even imagine how it must’ve felt. I’m happy you’re doing well, though.”

Shae said, “Thanks, everyone.”

Zena followed up, “Yes, thank you.”

Shae then joked, “So, does anyone else have a big secret to reveal?”

Why not?

Konial smirked. “I’m from Vhorayn.”

Everyone except for Shae looked at him with wide eyes.

Of course, the person I wanted to mess with the most doesn’t even know what that is.

Shae asked, “Uh, someone mind filling me in?”

Zena elaborated. “It’s a city in a massive bubble deep in the ocean. Its supposed beauty is quite famous. It’s also a place many, many people want to live in, or at least visit.
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“Space is quite limited, however, as they can’t expand the bubble. Or can, but won’t, if you believe the rumors. That means the number of people who get to visit it is quite low, and those people usually pay premium prices for a ticket in.”

“That sounds so cool! And maybe kind of elitist.”

Before anyone could ask the usual question whenever he revealed this fact about himself, he stated, “I can’t get anyone in, by the way. It’s just not possible. They wouldn’t allow it.”

He was looking at Tria in particular, who seemed to be vibrating in excitement.

“As a former citizen, I can get myself, and only myself in. I would still have to pay for one of those stupid tickets, though.
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“And Shae, you’re right. It is elitist. It’s a whole bunch of rich fucks showing off how fucking rich they are to other rich fucks. It’s ironic, because it’s in the ocean, meaning people have to go through some serious effort to get even a glimpse of their rich fuckness.
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“Though I will admit, it is quite the sight. But also offensive because of the sheer amount of money spent to keep it so pristine and perfect.”

Shae asked, “Wait, so you’re some kind of runaway rich kid?”

“No. They couldn’t feel good about how rich they are if there wasn’t also a slum area full of poor people to constantly make miserable. The wealth disparity in that place is immense.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

He waved her off.

Tria couldn’t keep it in anymore. “Describe it to me! In detail! I need to know!”

He sighed in exasperation and amusement. “On the carriage. We should be leaving soon.”

 

———

 

Shae

The journey to the farm where their mission was was interesting. Tria kept asking Konial questions and doing her best to sketch what he described, then asking if it was correct. He obliged, if only because Tria was so interested and having fun.

She was also a bit frustrated because of being in a vehicle. The magic suspension system carriages had couldn’t make it a completely smooth ride, so her sketches were a little sloppy.

Melo had indeed gotten them the job of acting as escorts, though the pay was low when split among five people.

As Shae always did when she had free time, she practiced her space magic.

She could still only move small objects around, but the size of the objects and the amount of force she could enact upon them had both increased.

It wasn’t like Melo’s telekinesis, either. His magic was an invisible tendril of mana that extended from his body and was connected to whatever object he was moving around. When using the gem in his forehead, that tendril went from being somewhat like a rope connecting the two, to being akin to a tentacle.

Space magic, Shae had found, was grabbing space itself and making it move something around for her. It was like telekinesis with an extra step. Right now, she could only manipulate ambient space mana, not generate it. She hoped she would be able to do that once her sub-skill finally reached Level 1.

She was also using the magic on her body to raise its adaptation percentage faster. This wouldn’t work after the magic was fully adapted, however, as she was only increasing her body’s ability to resist the magic, not use it. Her Passive abilities were just resistances under another name.

Melo asked Tria, “What do you do with all your art, anyway? Do you have somewhere you store it?”

The light mage replied, “I sell most of it. Sometimes to an art gallery, sometimes to a random person on the street. I’ve even had some luck just walking into random businesses and asking if they want something new to put on their wall.”

Zena asked, “Does that mean we can see some of your art around Marlonn? What about other places?”

“In a few places, yeah. I don’t remember every single person and place I’ve sold something to. I’ve made a lot, and it all kind of blurs together.
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“As for other cities… Well, I can name the cities themselves, but other than a few exceptions, I don’t remember exact locations.”

“Well, I’d love to see what you could show us.”

Shae joined in, “Yeah, that sounds fun! I want to see it!”

Tria shyly replied, “O-Okay.”

 

———

 

They eventually arrived at their mission’s location. There was a town nearby, but the farm was a ways out from it. But it wasn’t at all like what Shae had been expecting.

She questioned, “Uh… this is a farm? I just see a massive, tough-looking building with no windows.”

Melo casually stated, “It’s a spider farm.”

“I’m sorry, it’s a what farm!?”

“Spider farm. Silk and spider meat are common, but the eggs are delicacies due to how difficult it is to get them produced right, and the chef also has to have a lot of experience and skill to not ruin the eggs and to bring out the flavor.”

She blinked. “O-Oh… How big are the spiders?”

“The adults get to around two meters¹6'7" tall from what I’ve heard, so you can imagine how long their legs are.”

She exhaled heavily.

I never really minded spiders before, but those were just the little ones that would show up indoors sometimes. But why this!?

Zena put a hand on Shae’s arm. “Are you scared of spiders?”

“Maybe a bit? I’ve only ever seen ones this big.” She made a circle with her thumb and index finger. “Even in Marlonn, only small ones ever showed up.”

Melo explained, “Yeah, these kinds of spiders aren’t from the area. They also normally live deep underground. The part of the farm we can see right now is just what’s above the surface.”

It took some mental preparation, but Shae finally entered the farm with everyone else.