71 – Sketches

The first sketch was a stag. It stood stall and proud, and alert, muscles taut as it gazed into the forest at some unseen threat. The line work was confident and fluid. Lori had implied she wasn't good, but Ari saw in an instant that was a lie. The details to the stag were incredible. Its fur, the antlers curling into the sky, the shadows, composition, and values ... Ari wouldn't say it was all perfect, but it was far beyond amateurish.

“Wow,” Ari said. “It’s gorgeous.”

Lori sniffed. “I don’t like how the background turned out. And the proportions are off.”

Ari didn’t think so. Lori did seem like the kind of person who would be overly critical of herself. Not out of insecurity, but the desire to be better. Out of everyone, Lori had been the most consistently focused on advancing her class.

Ari leaned her head against Lori’s shoulder. Lori stiffened, then relaxed. She flipped to the next page.

The next drawing was a monster. Cataloging the entirety of the hostile, empowered creations that wandered adventuring zones was impossible, but as a low level area, the Forest of the Golden Lake had more information out there than most. Ari recognized the creature from her previous studies—preparations for normal adventuring life—despite not having fought any.

It was a gloom lurker. A chitinous, rather unpleasant looking insectoid that lived in caves and other dark places. Lori must have bumped into one during her adventures. Ari hadn’t, yet.

“Was it something you fought?” Ari asked.

“Mm,” Lori said. “I would have liked to. But it was level seven, and it was just me and Claire. You told us to be safe.”

“Oh,” Ari said. “Yeah. Thank you. I don’t want you guys to get hurt. Adventuring’s all about steady progress, anyway.”

Lori hummed, as if she didn’t wholly agree. “I would think to excel, risks are unavoidable.”

“It’s about taking the right risks,” Ari conceded. “Like with Cece. A mini-boss, where the reward’s worth the chance of losing.” Ari hesitated. “But even still. If we lost to her, we wouldn’t have—“ she paused. “Well, I don’t know. But I don’t think she’d have killed us. Losing against a monster in the traditional sense … well.” Death was the most common outcome—maimings, if you were lucky.

Ari’s heart sank at the idea. That was the risk of being friends with adventurers. Even more than most, any day could be their last. She squeezed tighter into Lori, suddenly worried. “So yeah. Please be careful.”

“I will,” Lori said. Her cheeks had dusted pink; Ari’s concern had embarrassed her.

“You know,” Ari said. “I’m kind of sad I can’t come help you guys.” This wasn’t a topic she’d discussed out loud, though she’d been thinking about it a lot. “The normal way, I mean. I like my class … but it’s disappointing not being able to fight. I grew up wanting to be an adventurer.”

Lori sensed the heaviness in Ari’s words—that this wasn’t a random thought that had strayed into the conversation. “I can see that,” Lori said. She paused, probably looking for reassuring words. “If you enjoy hunting just for the thrill, there’s nothing saying you couldn’t. Lower level fights should be possible. Or, spars with us, at a minimum, just to get your blood pumping.”

Ari snorted. “Spars? With you guys? I’m so outpaced, I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“We won’t use skills?”

“Even still. Your stats. You’re, what? Five, same as me?”

Lori nodded.

“So your stats are way higher,” Ari said. “Maybe at level one, I could’ve sparred and not been steamrolled, if you didn’t use skills. But not anymore.”

Lori couldn’t refute that, though she struggled for a way to. She wanted to cheer Ari up. Not that Ari was horribly despondent about her class’s lack of combat skills, but definitely disappointed.

Ari saved Lori from grasping for something to say. “I’m hoping my class will give me something, down the line. Dunno how … but I don’t think it’ll leave me out to dry.”

“Your transform skill doesn’t work on other people?”

“It says monster. So, no.” Though Ari guessed she hadn’t explicitly tried. But it wouldn’t make sense if it did. The skill explicitly said ‘transform a monster’.

“Yeah,” Lori finally said. “I guess you’ll just have to find out.”

Ari nodded. She hadn’t expected any insight to the problem, but even having voiced it to Lori made her feel better.

A brief pause. Lori flipped to the next page.

Ari blinked rapidly at the drawing splayed out across the page. Lori’s eyes went wide, and she hastily swiped to the next.

“Wait,” Ari said. “Wait, go back.”

“I—I forgot that was there.”

“Go back,” Ari said. “Was that me?” She grinned up at Lori, who was pointedly not making eye contact. Her cheeks were flushed red. “It’s fine. Please? Go back?”

Lori glanced at Ari, blushed deeper, then slowly pulled back the page to the previous.

It was unmistakably Ari, with her identifiable short hair and freckles dusting her cheeks. She was naked. And sweaty. Carefully placed pencil-shading showcased blushes dappled across her cheeks and chest. Ari was on her back, legs spread open, And Lori had paid careful attention paid to each of her exposed, less-modest parts: breasts, stomach, and so on. The image of Ari stared at the viewer, mouth slightly parted as she panted. The lust on her face was blatant.

Ari had the sense it was from her and Lori’s first day together, a memory locked into Lori’s brain that she’d put onto the page. Ari was … flattered? Overwhelmingly? The drawing was by far the one with the most effort put into it. And it was so good.

“Wow,” Ari said. “I don’t know how you made me look so pretty.” She realized a second too late it might sound like she was fishing for compliments … and embarrassingly, Lori bit.

“I didn’t ‘make’ anything. I just drew you.”

Ari blushed, which meant both of them were, now. Lori’s proximity—their arms pressing together, Ari’s head on her shoulder—was suddenly a lot more burning than a second ago.

Lori flipped the page. Apparently, having Ari’s naked form on display was a bit too much for her to handle.

For a while, Lori continued flipping through her drawings. The brief heat of the situation faded back to a comfortable, friendly warmth. It was a one-off drawing, which had been why Lori had forgotten about it; the rest of the pages were chaste material. No more lewd pictures. Ari was again flattered she received that special status.

The night ticked on, and Claire’s stretching routine finished; she settled down in her sleeping bag.

Closing her notebook, Lori said, after a long hesitation, “It’s pretty cold in here.”

Ari blinked, then nodded. “Yeah. I plan on getting us some heating equipment. That, and clean water. Those’re what we need most, for sure.”

“I wasn’t saying—it wasn’t a complaint. I just meant …” Lori’s ears twitched, and she cleared her throat, glancing away. “Since it’s cold … well. The sleeping bags are big enough for two. It would just be a tight fit.”

Ari paused, Lori’s words sinking in. A grin split her face. “Are you asking to sleep with me, Lori?”

Lori sniffed. “You seem like you get cold easily.”

Like usual, Lori would never admit to anything. Why was it so cute? “I do,” Ari said, smiling at Lori. “And you’re right, a cuddle partner is just the fix I need. Just don’t go trying anything funny … we’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

Lori’s cheeks burned, and she didn’t reply.