I startle awake, swallowing a few times as my mouth has become dry. I blink a few times as my eyes adjust to the light of the room. I sit up, confusing me as I don't remember laying down, and I also realize I was laying on Melina which makes me snap wide awake. She seems to be asleep, but that is not helping out the embarrassment that I am feeling. Leo walks over and hands me a glass of water. How the hell did he know I needed this...
"Thanks..."
"No problem."
"Um... how long was I asleep?" I ask, taking a drink of the water.
"20 to 30 minutes?"
"Oh..."
"Were you worried you slept for another day?"
"Kind of..." I take another drink of water.
"You know it was kind of cute seeing you all curled up on the smaller Melina, right?" I choke on the water, coughing a little and waking Melina up. Leo chuckles as Melina looks over to me.
"Hey, you alright?" She says while sitting up.
I steady myself. "Y-yeah... Sorry I woke you." Leo you asshole...
"It's fine," She stretches her back. "I shouldn't sleep too long anyway, are you feeling better?"
"Oh, um, yeah..."
"Good, you were kind of being depressing before."
"Sorry..."
"You have no reason to apologize, I just don't like seeing people in that headspace."
Inglis walks over with his head down. "I'm sorry Camaella..."
Huh? "Wait, for what?"
"I shouldn't have continued when I saw you were getting upset..."
"It's okay, really." I was the one who should have stopped talking anyway... I lean back and stretch by back out, feeling a few pops which make me sigh in relief. I look back down to see Inglis blushing really badly, then he shuffles away... Uh, shit...
"Anyway, what are we going to do the rest of the day?" Melina asks Leo, "We have a few more hours of daylight left."
"I was thinking about having everyone rest or get better acquainted with their body." I feel like that last part is aimed at me... "I know that Nabe is having some issues with his tail and Roana is still trying to get used to how broad she is." Leo continues, guess it's more than just me.
"I'll probably do some stretches or something, there isn't much else for me to do other than practice some sword movements." Melina shrugs.
"I really need to get better at walking... and moving in general..." I say, looking down at my tail, before getting an idea. "Having Leo's meat did hel- *click* owowoww! Again!?" I hold my head as I try to stop the rumbling from Leo flicking one my horns, he did it a lot harder this time... "Why did you have to hit it so hard..." I look up at him and start to fake cry, forcing tears into my eyes, "I was just getting back at you for what you said earlier..."
"Wait, I didn't hit you that hard... did I?" he asks, holding his hands out while taking a few small steps towards me.
I nod, suffer, asshole.
Melina reaches over and puts a hand on my shoulder, "You okay?"
"I'll be fine..." I really hope Leo is feeling bad for this... I swear you are abusing your strength now that you have it.
"Hey, um, really, I'm sorry, I didn't think I hit it that hard." He gets closer. While yes, it did hurt, it definitely wasn't bad, just a little worse than last time, though the headache isn't fading as fast.
"It's fine." I say with a pout, hopefully mak-... Huh!?
Leo quickly pulls me into a hug, rubbing my back and the back of my head. Wah, huha, whata, huh!?
"I'm sorry, really." He says from over my shoulder, my face heats up faster than ever and I am lost at what is happening anymore.
"Um, ah, uh... it's, it's okay..." I barely spit out, he pulls away.
"I promise I won't do it again." He says, I... didn't mean for it to go that far...
"I um... It really didn't hurt as much as I made it seem... I just wanted to make you feel bad..." I look to the side.
"Mhm, and watching your face light up like a christmas tree when I hugged you was the payoff." He smirks as he walks away, this motherfucker...
I growl at him, pulling my legs up and resting my chin on my knees. When did I even start doing this...
"You know," Melina speaks up, "I didn't even know you were playing that up..." She says with a sigh.
"I don't think he knew until I told him either, I just think he wanted to piss me off..." And he succeeded, fucking dick.
"Does it actually hurt?" She asks.
"Yeah, a little, kind of like someone pinching your arm quickly, the vibrations and the headache are what make it annoying."
"What do your horns even feel like?"
"Um, I don't really notice them to be honest."
"Oh, I uh, I meant how they felt to touch, I specifically avoided touching them before because of how you responding with your tail."
"Ah, thank you, um, I don't think they are as sensitive to touch as my tail, but I think they are more sensitive to impacts."
"Makes sense, it is connected to your skull... I think..."
"I believe they are, yes. Um... if you want to touch them, go ahead..." I say, feeling my cheeks heat up slightly.
"Are you sure? I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."
"Yeah, I will have to get used to the new parts of me touching stuff, it's probably going to happen whether I want it to or not." I shrug, leaning over slightly so she can reach them easier.
"Alright, if you are sure."
"I'm sure..." Though it's still going to be uncomfort- oh... She places her finger on one of my horns, running it across it, and making me shiver slightly. She pulls her hand back as I feel my head start to tilt more, quickly snapping it back up.
"You alright?"
"Oh, um, yeah..." I feel my face heat up even more. I really didn't expect that to feel soothing...
"Did that hurt?"
"No, no, it didn't..." It would be so uncomfortable to tell her it actually felt kind of good...
"Okay..." She reaches up again, rubbing once more and causing me to relax instantly.
"Um, Camaella?" Melina asks, startling me.
"Huh!? What?"
"You have been just staring into the distance for like 5 minutes now, are you alright?"
"Oh uh, yeah, yeah I'm fine." I shake my head to get the fog out of my thoughts.
"Really? Because you have been like that since I touched your horns."
"Yeah, I'm good, uh, this might sound weird, but it was actually kind of nice..." I look to the side, feeling my face heat up.
"Oh."
"Yeah, I, kind of lost my train of thought completely..."
"I could tell, you just kind of stared blankly. It must have felt pretty good." She says, making me feel even more embarrassed. "Hey, no need to feel weird about that, it's a new body part, you don't know how it will feel until something happens to it." She rubs my back. People seem to like touching me too...
"It's just, it's a little weird right? To admit that something like that felt good..." I feel my face heat up even more, why did I say that...
"No, I don't think so. People who have animal like features will probably enjoy getting pets, it was in the lore saying that the Catkin enjoyed fish and scratches. From Nabes reaction to the fish, that's probably the case."
"Still though, it's just... weird..." So much is different, yet most of it feels so natural that it is a little scary.
"All of this is weird, it's not that big of a deal. Hell, I'm still getting used to how natural my movements feel in combat, it's weird how comfortable it is, like I have done it countless times before." She pulls her hand back.
"That's how I feel with the magic, though not the getting used to it part, it just feels completely natural, no disconnect at all. I think that's because it's not something I had before, so my mind isn't trying to make a connection to something I already know."
"It would make sense, but I don't think we will be able to know that for sure so soon." She gets up and grabs some water and a small snack from a new platter of food. I guess they brought that up when I was asleep.
I get up, almost tripping on the wolves as they are just laying on the floor. I stumble again as I stand, falling over and using the couch as a brace. I shuffle to the end of it, pushing off and leaning against the wall. Melina turns around, her eyes widening a little seeing my struggle.
"Oh, I would have helped you if I knew you wanted to get up." She starts to put down the food she was holding.
"No no, it's fine, really, I need to get used to moving around without help. Short walks like this are perfect right now."
I continue walking, finally making it to the table and resting on it. Making a small sandwich as a snack, I'm not really feeling very hungry right now. I get back over to the couch with not so ease as I almost fell twice, sitting down and starting to eat the sandwich. Melina walks back over and sits down next to me.
"So, what are you going to do about your tail?" She asks me.
"What about it?"
"Touching it."
"Oh..." I feel my face heat up again, you couldn't have waited till I was done eating to bring that up... "I guess I will just have to let people touch it... Which I am not very excited about..."
"You don't have to, you can just keep your boundaries with it."
"Yeah... I guess you're right." I shrug, taking another bite of my sandwich.
After a few minutes, Leo bursts into the room slightly out of breath. "Guys, we are going to need everyone here. There is a Kappa hoard coming in from the south."
"Oh fuck, that's really bad timing..." Melina says, putting down her water and hopping up from the couch.
"If only we all could have gotten used to combat a little more before they decided to attack... Did this ever happen in the game?" Roana asks.
"No, but I just got word from a scouting party that they are coming, they will be here in about 15 minutes." He rushes back out of the room, "See you guys at the south gate!"
I don't know if I will make it there in time without help, it's just Kappas so they should be fine, but because of everyone not being fully ready I don't want to risk it... I look down, I could link teleports together... but that would probably be dangerous for others if they get in the way... I don't quite know what would happen if I teleported basically into someone or something... Rushing over there will make me late... shit, and I don't want to slow down the othe- "*gasp* Ah!" Roana starts picking me up and carrying me, the sudden movement making me grab onto them quickly, my tail wrapping around their arm and causing me to shiver.
"Sorry, we don't have time, let's go." She says.
"O-o-okay, y-yeah..." I adjust so my tail isn't touching them anymore, shaking a little to get the feeling out of my head as we rush out of the now empty guild hall. She rushes through the streets, definitely not helping my embarrassment as we get a couple of odd looks from the people around us. After 5 minutes we make it to the south gate, Leo turns and see us, getting a sly smirk on his face. Roana quickly sets me down next to Leo, helping me stand.
"You kno-"
"Not, a, fucking, word..." I stop him from talking.
"Sorry Camaella, we just didn't have the time." Roana says.
"I understand, thank you."
Someone walks up to Leo, "Sir, we have confirmed the force, it is at least 150 Kappas, possible more." He glances at me but doesn't say anything.
"Okay, we will need shields to the front, spearman behind them, and all clerics need to watch over from the furthest possible distance that their spells allow." He walks over to the gate looking out into the swamp in anticipation.
"Can you get me-" I start to say to Roana, but quickly get cut off by the man.
"What are you doing here?" He asks me, confusing me.
"Um, I'm here to help?" I ask, kind of confused on what else he thought I was going to do. I turn back to Roana but the man speaks up again.
"What do you think you can even do? You have no armor, weapon, and it looks like you can't even walk right, whore yourself out too much this morning?" He smirks, looking me over.
"I'm a mage, anyway-" I turn back to Roana before he speaks up again, dude, really, just get to work already...
"Don't you ignore me-" He says before Roana decides to speak up, a lot more anger in her voice than I was ready for spooks me.
"Just shut up and do your job."
"My job is to make sure everyone is ready for battle, and those who will slow us down will just bring unnecessary casualties." He says, visibly getting angry.
"She won't slow anyone down, youareright now, so leave." She starts to walk me to the wall, a staircase leading up to the top, acting as an overlook.
"Hey, don't walk away from me! That scaly wont help, why are you helping it!?" Roan stops, starting to shake, I turn and look up to her. Her face, twisted in anger.
"Roana, don't it's not-"
"Leo!" She calls how, startling me, he quickly runs over.
"Whoa what happened?" He asks.
"Take Camaella, I have someone to kill." She says, a lot more deadpan than I am ready for.
"No, don't it's-"
"Guild master!" The man runs over, "Please tell this person to take it away from here, it will just get in the way."
"It?" Leo asks, getting angry but not jumping to conclusions. This can only go bad...
"It can barely walk, it's just going to get in the way." He says, like what he said before was the most obvious thing ever.
"Are you... talking about Camaella?" He says, gesturing to me.
"I refuse to call it by-"
"Hey Roana... I don't think you will be killing anyone today, because I will be..."
"No, wait, they don't need-" I try to say.
"Camaella, just get ready to fight, I'll be done with this and join you guys in less than 2 minutes." He turns, his voice staying calm but his eyes saying otherwise, making me shut up instantly.
Roana let's out a huff, "Just... get an extra hit in for me." She says before she walks me to the stairs. Why are people so protective of me...