Guildmates (I)

Dairen had a cold expression that made Mike seem to turn darker and darker every second they stepped forward. Angie shuddered, mentally preparing for the safety of the crew, herself …and herself again at what was going to happen next. She pulled on Mike's clothes a few times, trying to get his attention.

Mike brushed Angie aside, a bit annoyed.

"Mike." Angie hissed, trying to stop him as his chuckling made Dairen even colder. "Pst, Mike."

"What?" Mike finally turned towards her.

Angie pointed furiously at Dairen, who looked close to an angry demon. Mike yelped, shrinking from Dairen's fierce gaze. With a burst of half-hearted laughter that sounded more similar to a belated plea, Dairen ignored him.

"I'll be back." Dairen opened the door, stepping into the room as it closed behind him. A quick rummaging sound could be heard.

"I told you, you shouldn't have pushed his buttons." Angie hissed, trying not to bite her tongue from snapping at him too much. From the short amount of time that they had interacted with one another, Mike had a knack of pushing Dairen a bit too far and vice versa - this was one of those days.

"You never said that," Mike retorted back, scratching his head. You could tell that he was a bit embarrassed.

"Well, I just did." Angie stuck out her tongue, placing her hand on the hip. Her hips swayed to the side.

Just when Mike was about to leave, the door opened. A hand grabbed Mike's shoulder, pulling him into the room like a monster creeping under the bed.

Mike screamed, but it was muffled by skeletal hands that were straight out of a horror story.

Angie squeaked, scrambling backward, ready to run away. She saw multiple green glowing eyes, coming from the door. Chattering sounds of bones clinked rapidly together. Black smog spilled out the corridor, bringing with it a disturbing atmosphere.

Stupefied about what she was seeing, her hands shakily made a cross-motion, while she locked eyes with Mike.

Dread filled Mike's face; he was wrapped tightly with multiple hands of skeletal remains. With a hurried swirl of dark energy, the light around Mike was swallowed whole, disappearing into the darkroom that was eerily voiceless.

Angie couldn't even see the end of the darkness.

Screams of pain and shouts echoed, followed by muffled moans of "help," "please," "stop," and few "I give up" from Mike's pleas echoed out into the corridor. Finally, the dark swirls of magical energy sucked back into the room, allowing the light to peak through.

With a weary step, Angie got up. She gulped.

It took a brave few moments for her to enter the room.

Mike was sitting on his knees, beaten up black and blue. His hand was up in the air in a submissive position, looking ready to cry.

For the first time, Angie felt bad for Mike.

"I'm going to need your help." Dairen's low voice echoed hollowly through her ears, making her shiver. She thought he was right next to her, but found him across the room, standing next to the bed.

A squeak escaped her lips. "Help?"

"A change of clothes for Snow."

"Oh!" Angie clapped her hand. She rummaged through her item box, taking out a handful of simple clothes down to the panties and bras. "I've wanted to dress her up." Her hand rubbed together, excitedly forgetting how scary Dairen was.

Snow moved around, waking up from Angie's gleeful voice.

"Are we there yet?" Rubbing her eyes, Snow asked sleepily. She yawned.

"No, it hasn't been long since you got out of the tube."

Pushing up from the bed, the covers tightly wrapped around her like a burrito came slightly loose. Dairen snapped his eyes away, while Mike gave him a lopsided evil smile that was brewing with tricks to play on Dairen.

Angie came over, pulling the covers up. "Let's get you into your clothes." She then snapped towards the two. "I need you guys to leave for a moment."

"We can do that." Mike hurriedly got up, happy that he didn't have to be in the same position for long.

Even Dairen had forgotten that he was punishing Mike. He shook his head up and down, getting up. His hand grasped Mike's armor, pulling him out of the room without any complaint.

Snow yawned a few more times, and she stretched to get her tight muscles to loosen up. She didn't remember when she arrived on the bed, but she had missed it very much. Floating in liquid manna water was actually extremely comfortable, but what she had missed the most was the soft texture of a bed. Other than that, sleeping in a pool of mana would be her ideal place to sleep.

She contemplated the idea of asking Falcon to make a special bed for her when everything settled down.

"Here you go." Angie handed her a handful of clothes. "You're going to need this."

"Thanks." Snow gratefully took it without complaint.

Angie looked away, giving her some privacy.

Snow got up, dropping the blanket around her. She slipped on her clothes. It was easy to wear a one-piece light blue dress with a slight v cut. Soft white flower patterns were present up and down one side of the dress while a white hem was underneath. She slipped on her black stockings and wrapped the gold sandals around her leg. She wondered how Angie knew her size so well.

"I'm done," said Snow. Her hand pulled out her long white hair that reached close to her knees now. She was surprised to see her hair had grown so long, especially in one year.

Angie came over, helping her tie her hair with a blue ribbon.

"I knew it would fit you," said Angie.

"You know the clothes you gave me are all dresses and skirts." Snow replied. She had a feeling that Angie purposely gave her only dresses. Which wasn't ideal for fighting.

"Yep."

"I can't fight in them."

"You can."

Snow sighed, "Forget it. I'll just wear my armor on top of it."

"But, you would look so cool fighting in a dress."

"I think you hit your head a bit too much. I don't mind wearing a dress, but fighting in one is different." Snow wasn't sure how to explain it to her. The restriction of fighting in a dress and not flailing around showing off her panties was difficult, but then again, fighting was fighting; she didn't really have time to think about if someone saw her panties or not.

"But it looks so pretty."

Snow folded her arm. "Functionality over aesthetics, Angie."

Angie wasn't bothered by what Snow had said. She skipped over, twirling around her. "It's both. I made it so."

"How?"

Angie flipped the dress up, which completely caught Snow off guard. Her hand automatically came down to push it down, but the dress quickly fluttered down with magic. For a moment, she thought she saw a mosaic or blurred out image, which baffled her. What kind of strange magic was Angie, even learning?

Proud of her ability, she stuck up her head before she spoke up again. "I designed all the clothes, and it even has a stab and gunshot resistance. It should be extremely comfortable for you to move around, though your shoes..." Angie thought it over for a moment. "I'll think about it for a bit."

Snow did a double-take, realizing what she had said. It wasn't often that she knew of a tailor that knew how to put such high-quality magical ability onto everyday clothes.

"I thought you wanted to be a priest, not a tailor."

"I'm doing both. My main job is a priest, and my sub job is tailoring. I get a fairly good income

from my second job. Plus, could you be my model for all my clothes design." Angie came over and clasped Snow's hand. She gave her the most adorable puppy dogs eyes that she could muster.

It reminded Snow of a chipmunk with her puffy cheeks that she had given. The stare's intensity was becoming stronger and stronger to the point she couldn't take it anymore. Angie won.

"Fine." Snow let out a deep breath.

With a squeal, Angie threw up her hand.

"What else do you want me to do?"

"Pose for me so I can take a few pictures for my social account."

"Do I have too?"

"Please, Snow?!"

"Fine, but right now, we are in a dungeon dive. I don't think this is a good time to do photoshoots."

"It's okay." Angie was excited at Snow's agreement. "I know how to take pictures while fighting. I'll go ask some of our techies for help."

Snow felt uncomfortable about what she had said. She had a feeling that Angie was getting further and further away from doing her priesthood training and becoming something else entirely.

"The things I could do." Angie rubbed her hands in a greedy motion, "I'm going to make so much money. Huhuhuhuhu." She laughed creepily.

"Anyways…" Snow brought the conversation back on track. "Let's go out and meet with the others. We should see how things are going."

"Mkay." Angie skipped behind as both left.