The Legendary Monster Layer!

Ari rapped on Elise’s door. A few moments later, it swung open.

“Surprise!" Ari said. “Can I come in?”

Elise was, like usual, a bit bedraggled, her hair tousled and bags under her eyes. She really did work herself too hard. Seeing Ari, though, she blinked, and a smile replaced the frown of concentration.

“Of course,” Elise said, swinging the door open. Ari followed her in, closing the door behind her.

“Busy?”

“Always. But I can talk. What’s up?”

Ari plopped onto Elise’s bed. What’s up? Did Ari actually have to respond to that? She wanted to come check in on her friend … or possibly more than friend, considering recent developments. She shouldn’t need a reason.

Elise had sat down and turned to her notebook, as if she planned to return to her studies. Ari pouted. It took a few moments for Elise notice, but Ari’s silence gave it away eventually. She looked over and saw Ari’s expression.

“What?”

“Don’t keep studying,” Ari complained. “Come sit. It’s been like … a full day since I got to kiss you. That’s way too long.”

Elise blushed. She looked down at her notebook and cluttered desk, as if wondering whether she should put up a fight. Apparently, she decided she shouldn’t. She set her pen down, then moved to sit next to Ari.

Ari didn’t waste any time. She pushed Elise over and atop her, pinning her into the bed. By the time Ari was done with a very thorough catch-up session, Elise was panting and red-faced.

“I can’t believe I can just do that, now. Whenever I want.” She planted another kiss on Elise’s cheek. She wanted to go farther, but that hadn’t been her intention, coming here, however eagerly she’d pinned Elise down. “So. When do I get to take you out on a date?”

“A date?”

“Don’t sound surprised. Of course that’s happening. What, do you only want me for my tongue and fingers?” She laughed. “Not that I’d complain, I guess.”

“Of course not. But … date?”

“I know you’re allergic to sunlight, but yeah. Isn’t there anything you want to do?” Ari had been leaned down, her face close to Elise, but now she leaned up. She straddled the other girl, with Elise laying down, pressed into the bed. Her shirt had ridden up, revealing a pale stomach. Ari hadn’t come here for that sort of thing, but resisting the urge to slip her hands beneath the fabric and start teasing Elise in a much more compromising way wasn’t easy.

“Something I want to do? I don’t know.” Elise also seemed to be having problems keeping her thoughts chaste; she seemed distracted, and her eyes were straying. “Um. I really am busy.”

“So am I. But we’ll make time. That’s what girlfriends do, right?”

Elise’s eyes widened. Ari hesitated, wondering if she’d gotten it wrong.

“Because we’ve known each other forever?” Ari asked. “Already best friends? And now we’re … doing it? So I figured … ?” She started to panic at Elise’s prolonged wide-eyed look.

“Yes!” Elise said instantly. She blushed furiously at her volume, and Ari grinned, re-emboldened. “You just … caught me by surprise.”

“My days of being dense are over,” Ari proclaimed. “Now that I know, you’ll never be safe from me. I’m going to move way too fast.”

“You’ll always be dense,” Elise said. The flushed smile that replaced her normally stoic expression turned Ari’s insides gooey. “And … I don’t think you could go too fast. I waited way too long, you know.”

“And I’m still mad about that. We could’ve been kissing for like, years? And you didn’t tell me?”

“You always turned me down!”

“I never even knew! I definitely didn’t turn you down.”

Elise huffed. “Whatever. You should’ve been able to tell. Can you please get off me?”

“No. I like my seat.” Ari wiggled side to side on top of Elise, which made her suck in a breath of air. Ari realized that the movement had probably been a bit too exciting. Ari blushed. It hadn’t been intentional. She really was trying to keep things from getting out of hand. She’d come here with a goal.

But she did like her seat. She wasn’t getting off. Having Elise pinned down beneath her, blushing, was way too great of a sight.

“So, a date, at some time in the future—to be decided,” Ari claimed loudly, brushing past the inappropriate noise Elise had made. “But I came here for advice, too.”

“Advice?”

“You’re the smartest person I know, and now that you’re … in the loop … I was wondering if you could help me.”

“With?”

“Planning. Priorities. A few other things.” She shrugged. “Advice in general. So much weird stuff is going on that a second perspective would be useful. A perspective from someone who actually knows how the world works.” Her Menagerie had memories, but overall, what they did and didn’t know could be unreliable.

“Okay. I’m listening.” She looked pointedly down to how Ari was sitting on top of her, and quirked an eyebrow. “I am a captive audience, aren’t I?”

Ari patted Elise’s stomach. “Yes. You are.” She hummed, thinking about which topic she’d broach first. “Some background. I’ve entered into a business arrangement with Madam Iris, from The Velvet Rose. You know it?”

“The bordello?” Whatever Elise had been expecting Ari to say, it hadn’t been that.

“Yeah. Er, have I mentioned all the lewd items I get, adventuring?”

“You said you wanted to try some with me.”

Ari paused, then blushed. Yes, she very much did. More than anything, she wanted to test out Opal’s substance with Elise. Elise might not have gotten Ari’s ‘normal first time’, like Ari had gotten Elise’s, but Elise could take her virginity in a different way.

Focus! That would happen after their date. Assuming Elise wanted to.

“So, a business arrangement,” Ari repeated. “I can hardly make use of it all myself, so Madam Iris is buying most of it off me. If I had to guess, The Velvet Rose is going to get really popular over the following weeks.”

“Especially because of all the new adventurers,” Elise said thoughtfully. “The perfect clientele for her. Wealthy, transitory, and looking for stress relief. You’re right. You’re going to make loads of money, aren’t you?”

“It’s not cheap setting up a guild in the middle of nowhere. So I better.”

“Guild?”

“I haven’t picked a name for it,” Ari said. “But yeah. A monstergirl guild. I hit level six, so—“

“Six!”

“Er, right. That’s still happening. I’m leveling up bizarrely fast.”

“A level a day, almost.” Elise sounded shocked. Reasonably.

“And it’s not slowing down,” Ari said. She’d almost taken that aspect of her class for granted. It was an insane pace. Eventually, progress would slow, but it hadn’t shown signs of doing so yet. And she suspected she’d always be much faster than other classes. “That’s not the point, though. Er … kind of. You know, Claire and Lori and everyone else are leveling super fast too. I’m wondering if you join them in an adventure, maybe you get bonus experience too? Though that’s probably a long shot.” Probably, they were leveling faster because of their link to Ari. Ari was just rambling, giving a stream-of-consciousness.

“Join them? In … combat adventures?”

“Yeah. Not my sort. They do normal adventuring when they’re not with me.”

“I’m not skilled in combat magic. You know that.”

“You also have ridiculous standards. I bet you’re way better than most.”

Elise looked away. “I’m not.”

“Well, we can figure that out later.” Ari had strong suspicions Elise was being modest. She might not have the best combat instincts, but her raw spellcasting abilities were impressive—hence her apprenticeship to Mistress Selia. “They’re really good. They can test you. Spar. Only if you want to, though.”

“Adventuring is something most mages eventually do,” Elise said, chewing her lip. “But Ari … I’m only level eight, and I’ve had my class for months. They’re going to out pace me, if I try to make a squad with them. Plus, even if I wanted to, I could only go maybe every two weeks. Study is much more important for me, right now. Mages don’t work like normal adventuring classes.”

Well, mages could work that way, Elise just hadn’t chosen that path. Which was fine. “Just throwing ideas out. Offering.”

“Well, thank you. I’ll … figure it out. But the monstergirl guild.”

“Right. The guild. Stop distracting me.”

“I’m distracting you?”

“Yes. You are.” That was her story, and she was sticking with it.

So. The monstergirl guild. Where had Ari been going with that train of thought?