38 How Not to Make a First Impression
Morning, Alicia's Camp.
The sun was just beginning to rise over tops of the tree's and illuminating Alicia's campsite.
"*Yawwwwwwwwn*" (Alicia)
The sun shined down on Alicia and her still sleeping friends as it begins to wake Alicia up. She goes to try and move her hands to her face to rub her sleepy eyes, but realises that they are still being gripped by the two sleeping beauties beside her.
Alicia then looked down too see the sleeping Osha still in the position she was left too, sprawled out on top of her while making a content face. Alicia would have thought it was quite cute, where it not for the fact that she was drooling on top of her armour.
Alicia's eyebrow twitched as she became slightly annoyed at this but calmed herself down, not wanting to give herself a migraine so early in the morning. Luckily from Alicia's slight stirring, the others also began to wake up.
"Hmmm… big sis? You already awake?" Osha says, staring cutely up at Alicia with her eyes that looked like valuable stones and her small fluffy tail wagging slightly.
Seeing something this cute, Alicia couldn't be mad anymore so just greeted her instead.
"Yup, morning Osha. Morning you two as well…" Alicia says, greeting everyone as they begin to slowly wake up.
"Nnnnnn… morning Alicia… Looks like none of us took watch last night." Ignis says stretching her arms above her head.
"Good morning, my Lady… and indeed, we are lucky nothing tried to attack us while we were asleep." Vera says brushing herself off and scanning the surroundings.
After Osha had climbed off of Alicia, Vera and Ignis grabbed a hand of Alicia's each and helped her up off of the ground.
Ignis washed her face in a bucket of water and went off to hunt for some food for everyone, in the forest.
Meanwhile, Vera stayed with Alicia and Osha, revealing a skill that she had been hiding and working on since the crafters began training.
"Really? You can make some clothes for Osha?" Alicia asks, quite shocked at her hidden talent.
The reason she was shocked was because Vera is a very active person, the fact that she can sew and has the potential to be a tailor came as quite a shock to Alicia.
"Haha, yes I have been learning how to do this alongside your maids. They talked a lot about it on the day that we spent together and I became quite interested in it…" Vera says as she begins to adjust the size of one of Alicia's spare dresses, she was the closest in size to Osha after all.
"Oh? Any particular reason this interested you? I always though that you were just interested in getting better with your swords and getting stronger?" Alicia asks, as both her and Osha hover over Vera's shoulders to watch her work.
"Oh that was because they said that if I learn how to make some cute clothes I would be able to dress Lady Al-…"
"Lady Al?" Alicia turns her face to look at Vera's. Her face was already very close with it being just on her shoulder, but now it was turned towards her and Vera became very conscious of this…
[Haaaah, Lady Alicia's face is so close to mine… I can practically feel her breath on my face… her lips are inches away if I just move slightly forward, they would touch and then things would start to get…] (Vera)
*Poke, Poke*
"Heeeeeeey big sis Veraaaaaa. What's with the heavy breathing?" Seeing a strange turn in Vera's attitude and breathing, Osha got curious and asked what was going on.
"AH! Nothing! I was just about to say… erm… so I could dress more lady like! Yes, that's it!" Vera says loudly as she backs away from them both, but Alicia follows her with a worried expression on her face.
Again, everyone was used to Vera being very calm and collected. So, the times when she acts outside of that behaviour, Alicia gets worried about her.
"Yeah? You okay Vera? You don't have a fever or anything right?" Alicia moves he head forward and places her forehead against Vera's, causing Vera's face to grow even redder.
[Haaah she's so close again… and she smells really goooood… Maybe I should just go for it… NO SNAP OUT OF IT VERA!...But…Maybe… Just a little taste…] Vera's line of thinking becomes very hazy, she reaches out and puts her hand round the back of Alicia's neck…
"Hmm? Vera?" Alicia, oblivious to Vera's thoughts, wonders what she was up to…
"Fufufu don't worry about it… I'll help you out…" Vera says in a very seductive voice, that made Alicia's heart flutter slightly, as she brought her lips towards Alicia's.
Alicia was unclear what was happening, but Vera's voice had completely frozen her thinking and she just went along with it.
"O-Okay..." Alicia stuttered out.
"Fufu, so cute…" Vera says as their lips are mere centimetres apart until…
"…What are you guys doing?" (Girls Voice)
"Huh?" (Alicia and Vera)
"…" (Everyone)
The two girls look towards the location of the voices owner, to see Ignis staring at them with a deadpan face. The two then look back at each other and Vera notices what she was about to do…
"WHA! I-I-I AM SORRY LADY ALICIA! I DID'NT MEAN TOOOOO!" Vera shouts in a panic, fearing that she may have been to forceful in her advances, even if she was in a daze when she did it.
"Hmmm? What for? We were just checking your temperature, right? You were going to help me check right? I did get a bit embarrassed when our faces got close though hehe" Alicia says with a slightly flushed face.
"… Yeah that's it! Hahahaha" Vera, noticing that Alicia did not know what she was up to, saw her opportunity to escape her current predicament and tried to take it while laughing nervously.
Ignis looks at Vera with suspicion but then sighs…
"Haaah, that might have been what you were doing… But I think how it looked was too much for Osha…" Ignis says rubbing her palm against her forehead with one hand and pointing towards Osha with the other.
The two looked to where she was pointing and noticed the completely frozen and red-faced Osha, who looked so red that she almost looked like she was burning with steam coming out of her ears.
"AH! Sorry Osha! It might have looked weird, but we were just checking Vera's temperature!" (Alicia)
"Yup! Don't worry, nothing strange was happening!" (Vera)
Alicia and Vera had completely forgotten that Osha was there for a little bit and got lost in the moment. They try their best to convince her, but Osha continues to sit on her knees frozen. Eventually she drops her head, and she begins to whisper something…
"… mine…" (Osha)
"What did you say Osha?" Alicia lowers her head to try and put herself in Osha's line of sight, but she lifts her head and shouts…
"Big sis Alicia is mine! You can't do weird stuff to her!" Osha shouts defiantly, which draws a shocked and confused expression out of Vera and Alicia.
Everyone once again froze and stared at the determined looking Osha, who was staring right at Vera, the person the statement was aimed at.
"…Wh-What do you mean weird stuff!? I would never do such a thing to my Lady!" Vera rebooted and begins to protest against Osha's accusation.
"Liar, liar, liar!" Osha was having none of Vera's excuses though and she throws a tantrum which only riles Vera up more.
"I would never...!" (Vera)
"Liar! I saw what you...!" (Osha)
Alicia slowly backs away from the situation and places herself next Ignis, who continued to just watch the situation unfold with a tired expression on her face.
"H-Hey Ignis? Do you know why they seem so angry? I mean it was just a misunderstanding, right?" Alicia turns to Ignis for help explaining how the situation escalated so quickly.
In response, Ignis turns her tired expression on Alicia…
[Is she really so dense?] Ignis thought to herself, finding herself increasingly exhausted even though she had just gotten up.
"Haaah, no idea Alicia. Let's make some breakfast while they finish." Ignis could not be bothered to try and explain things to Alicia, so decided to just let it all play out and get on with her day.
"Oh! You're right I am really hungry now that you mention it! Come on let's go!" Alicia grabs hold of Ignis' hand and leads her towards the camp fire.
Ignis looks down at their entwined fingers as Alicia drags her along…
[… So dense] (Ignis)
The two then begin preparation for breakfast.
---
Eventually, both Vera and Osha calm down and join Alicia and Ignis for some breakfast. They tired themselves out in the end and called it quits on their argument, with no real winner or loser.
"Okay! Now that everything has calmed down and we have eaten breakfast, shall we head on over to meet the Lizardmen?" Alicia announced to the group once everyone had finished eating.
The three of them nodded in agreement, with Vera and Ignis beginning to lead the way through the forest.
"What is the leader, Kaal, like then?" Alicia asks Ignis and Vera as they make their way through the shrubbery.
"From what we could tell from our brief conversation, he seemed very polite, honourable and cares a great deal about his people. The reason he was in that situation with those humans was because he was trying to hold them off so his tribe could escape." Vera informed her, trying to give Alicia a sense of his personality before they began negotiating.
"He was also clearly quite strong. I mean, you could feel it from his aura and the way he carried himself, but to also hold off those three humans without dying straight away is quite impressive in itself." Ignis added on.
Ignis knew that Alicia would have a lot of respect for him if she knew that he was somewhat strong as well as honourable. It would give Kaal a few more points in Alicia's book.
"Hmmm I see…. We definitely have to convince him to join us! If his people are even half as sturdy as he is, then I am sure they can help me fulfil my big ambition! Anyway, thanks for the info guys." Alicia says, as she begins to increase her pace.
The three around her could visibly see a positive change in her mood, as she almost begins skipping towards her destination. Osha giggles and the other two smile at such an obvious change in her mood.
After a while, they finally make their way through the forest and come to the river streaming down from the mountain range. On the embankment, they see various lizardmen doing all sorts of jobs. Whether it be hunting for fish with wooden spears or washing their rag like clothes, they wear around their private parts, in the river. Everyone was doing something to help.
"Hoho, what hardworking people!" Alicia shouts, nodding as she does to show her approval.
Though her shout soon gets the attention of the Lizardmen who are on lookout for enemies, and they are quickly surrounded by the warriors with the only exit being back into the forest.
"Halt! Leave this place before- Huh? Wait you are the people who saved the chief! Everyone, stand down!" (Lizardman Warrior)
The lizardmen quickly recognise Ignis and Vera and stop their aggressive stance. They all breath a sigh of relief.
"Yes we are the ones who you met before. But the one who saved your chief is our Queen. She has now returned and has come here to begin negotiations with Chief Kaal." Vera explains to the lizardmen.
"Wow! So she managed to repel those strong humans from before… That is indeed impressive, she must be extremely powerful." The lizardman praises, which causes Alicia to stick out her small chest with pride.
The lizardman then begins to look around at Alicia's group, as if searching for someone…
"So… When is your Queen getting here?" (Lizardman)
Alicia's smiling face freezes as she realises that the Lizardman does not judge her to be strong enough to be the Queen. But this Lizardman does not stop there…
"Oh! And I see you have two new people with you today" The lizardman looks at Alicia and Osha and begins to walk towards them with an innocent, happy smile on his face.
"So are one of you the Queen's daughter or something? I am sure we can get some of the other kids to play with you while the adults talk…" His words cause Alicia's eyebrow and mouth to twitch.
"…" (Vera, Ignis and Osha)
The three do not know what to do as they see this lizardman warrior walk up to and so casually treat Alicia like a child.
He then proceeds to ruffle the top of Alicia's head, which is the last straw for Alicia…
"Kukuku… I see… Then would you like to play with me while we wait?" Alicia says in a slightly shaky voice, barely containing her rage.
"Hmmm? Oh sure! What would you like to do?" The lizardman, completely oblivious to who he just offended, happily goes along with it.
"…How about you pass me your hand?" Alicia asks, while looking up at him with a bright smile.
Alicia then sticks out her hand and the Lizardman takes it...
"Sure! Now where are we-ARGHHHHH!" Just as the lizardman was about to ask what they are doing, Alicia flips him over her shoulder as hard as she could and slams him into the ground, holding back enough to not kill him.
As he slams against the floor, his eyes roll to the back of his head and he instantly passes out.
"What!?" (Lizardmen Warriors and surrounding Lizardmen)
Everyone around was amazed by the strength of this girl who was much smaller than the guy she just throwed, and also slightly scared.
"Haaah, I knew something would go wrong…" Ignis sighed and says.
"Alright! Everyone listen up! This is the Queen of our Kingdom, Alicia Valensca!" Ignis then introduces Alicia, before anyone else makes the mistake of trying to start on her or piss her off.
"Now, bring me to your Chief!" (Alicia)
And so, the negotiations with the Lizard people get off to a AWFUL start.
