Ch 2.29: ❤ Illusions

“So, are we going to have someone keep watch, or…” Elaina felt silly as she asked it. Keep watch for what? She couldn’t see them, Tira couldn’t see them. Carline had felt them for a while, and Flora could only sense them if they were actively targeting them.

“I’ll take care of that,” Flora said as she stood up, giving a short smirk to the group. “I stopped the one before, so it’s best for me to do it anyway.”

Tira furrowed her brow, squinting at Flora before she seemed to realize something. “Wait, your flower crown, how are you—”

Flora put a finger to her mouth and shushed the question to an end. It took Elaina a moment to realize what was going on, but once she did it was impossible to notice. Flora was somehow wearing both the sundress she’d came to the woods in and her entire “outfit” granted by the system, the flower crown that only appeared once the rest of her outfit was supposed to disappear. And the crown is what lets her know when her allies are being attacked.

Carline seemed to realize the the contradiction, so Flora rolled her eyes and turned her back towards their captive. “You know, I’ve always wanted to try wearing body paint,” she said as the front material of her dress began to shimmer, sparkling in the night ever so slightly. “Just body paint, to be precise.”

“Are you four flirting over there?” their captive asked, unable to see the display from Flora.

“Only a little,” Flora said, winking at the party as she spun around. It wasn’t obvious before, but Elaina could tell the difference now. Flora hadn’t changed back into her regular clothes with the rest of them, wasn’t actually wearing anything at all other than the flower crown, just using [Body Paint] to create a version of her dress, one that didn’t quite ripple in the wind the same way real cloth would.

It required mana, right? How long could she keep it going? It probably didn’t hurt that the dress was terribly small anyways, but it certainly couldn’t go on forever. Flora didn’t seem to care at all, though Carline, Tira, and Elaina were all visibly astounded. Elaina herself couldn’t stop imagining it, walking around naked, even if no one knew. Flora hadn’t even shown any skin when she had messed with the front of her dress earlier, but the images it conjured in Elaina’s mind were more than enough to distract from the severity of the situation.

“Anyway, this heavy sundress is starting to weigh on me,” Flora said, grabbing the hem of her fake dress. “I’m gonna get changed for the night.” And then she actually did it, pulled up on the illusion she had created, shoving it into Tira’s open bag and standing there stark naked. If anyone had actually been paying attention to cloth physics, the illusion would’ve been shattered instantly. But Elaina certainly wasn’t paying attention to the dress itself as it unnaturally bunched up around Flora’s hand, as it disappeared from Tira’s bag the moment Flora’s arm pulled away., She was instead focusing on the soft skin being revealed as the illusion lifted away, the subtle curves of Flora’s body that were revealed as the facade dropped.

Once the shock wore off and Elaina regained access to her mind she looked over again at the woman tied to the tree. She was still dumbfounded, staring at Flora’s backside like it was one of the gods themselves. “Are— are you serious? Who the stars are you people?”

“This is how I sleep,” Flora said as she went over to Carline’s bag and pulled out a blanket. She sat down back on the rock she’d eaten from, throwing the covering over her shoulders, but still leaving more than enough visible for her crowd of onlookers, none of whom turned their heads or closed their eyes. “Not that I’ll be getting much sleep tonight. I can stay up and keep watch.

“The whole night?” Tira said, staring right between her classmate’s legs.

“The whole night! It’s in my nature. I’ll have to catch up on sleep tomorrow evening, but we’ll be in town by then.”

“It’s not even necessary,” their prisoner said, bowing her head. “I know you think they’re coming for me, but I promise you they’re not.”

“She has been remarkably quiet,” Tira said, finally pulling her head away from Flora. “But still, someone needs to keep watch, and it should probably be Flora.”

“Yeah,” Carline said, voice trailing off as she continued looking at Flora. “I’m sorry, I wish I could be more help there. I don’t know why—”

“Not in front of company, Carly,” Flora said, flashing a smile. “I’ll keep watch for tonight, and we can talk about that later. The prisoner didn’t seem to be reacting to the conversation anyway, still staring at the ground.

“Well, that settles it then,” Tira said, pulling a blanket out of her own bag and laying it out on the ground before climbing in and rolling it over herself. “The three of us need to get some sleep then, so we don’t burden Flora too much. Prisoner, if you keep us up I’ll put a ball gag in your mouth.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Still staring into the dirt.

Elaina was feeling a little lonely as she started to pull out her blanket, moving Temmie around in her bag as she did. She felt bad for not having talked to Temmie since the fight, but she couldn’t really do that in front of their captive. She settled with mouthing “good night” to the orb.

“Good night to you as well, Elaina.”

Elaina felt a little warm at the words, word’s she knew only she could hear. People outside the System couldn’t hear Temmie anyway, but somehow Elaina knew that message was just for her ears, not even the rest of the party. She closed the bag and pulled it into her arms as she got on the ground, somehow forgetting the chill of the night air as she bundled up with the satchel under the stars.