4.23 – Outfit Testing

The day continued in the vein of most others and, soon enough, ended—meaning it was time for Natalie and her team to head down into the dungeon for a quick expedition.

Except, before that, Natalie had an errand to take care of. [Stylish] had yet to be tested, and the team didn’t mind starting the delve an hour late. The experiments shouldn’t take long. Maybe not the entire hour.

Initially, Natalie had planned to test [Stylish] with just Jordan. But Jordan had other plans. Seeing how Natalie had earned herself a pet for the week, Jordan explained, the testing might as well be done with all three of them. Experiments were best with as many subjects as possible.

So, Natalie, Jordan, and Sofia ended up at their dorm room with their delving gear—and other items Jordan had collected the night prior.

“What’s in there, anyway?” Natalie asked, trying to peek into the shopping bag.

Jordan snapped it closed and tutted at her. “It’s a surprise,” she scolded. “Wait and see.”

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Sofia groaned, sitting in the kitchen, her forehead planted on the table. “You’re going to dress me up? Really? Parade me around just to see how many stats it gives?”

“We’re both doing it,” Jordan corrected. “And don’t sound so enthusiastic. Natalie will get the wrong idea.”

Sofia glared at Jordan, who was, like usual, unaffected. If anything, she seemed delighted by Sofia’s embarrassment.

Natalie had mixed feelings. [Stylish] seemed like a headache and a half to deal with. It depended on the results of their tests today whether it would be worth using at all. It would almost certainly be when upgraded, but right now, maybe not.

And with Jordan here to instigate Sofia, Natalie wasn’t sure what would happen. Bullying Sofia was fun when alone, but adding Jordan to the mix was—well, again, Natalie had mixed feelings. She didn’t have control over the situation when Jordan was there to egg them on.

“Okay,” Jordan said, setting the bag aside, then surveying the room. “Natalie, help me turn the couch so it’s pointed this way.”

“Why?”

“So you can lean back and enjoy the show,” Jordan said with a roll of her eyes. “Just do what I say.”

Natalie obliged. They rearranged the couch so that it was facing the kitchen. It gave them more space to work with. Made Jordan and Sofia’s ‘stage’ larger.

“Okay. Now, sit.”

Natalie did as she was told.

“And come here, Sofia,” Jordan instructed. “Stop moping.”

With a grumble, Sofia stood and came to Jordan. She pointedly didn’t look at Natalie. After her surge of confidence in the bathroom, Natalie would have thought Sofia would be less uncomfortable with all this. Testing out [Stylish] was definitely less lewd than the previous event. But instead, she was blushing as much as typical.

Like with Natalie herself, it was probably Jordan’s presence that heated things up. That it wasn’t just the two of them. Especially with Jordan being so visibly delighted at how awkward she and Sofia were. Really, when had Jordan become such an instigator?

“So,” Jordan said. “I figure we’ll test it step by step. As far as I can tell, our current outfits don’t actually provide a bonus.”

“There’s probably a minimum sluttiness,” Sofia said, glaring at Natalie, blaming her for this event. Which was fair, to some degree. It was her class. “The outfit has to reach some level of … required lewdness.”

“Lewdness?” Jordan asked, lips quirking up. “Well, not necessarily, I don’t think. The skill says the outfit just has to arouse her. I assume she’s aroused by us pretty much all the time—we can hope, at least,”—Sofia protested the second half of that statement—“but it’s the outfit that actually matters. And our current gear is frankly not that flattering.”

“As it shouldn’t be,” Sofia growled.

“But not everything that’s arousing is lewd, is my point,” Jordan continued, ignoring Sofia.

“Isn’t it?”

“Not at all. For example.” Jordan scooped up her shopping bag, rummaged around, and withdrew something. “This.”

Sofia blinked at the item, and so did Natalie. She recognized it at the same moment Jordan stepped forward. She unclipped the black choker and secured it around Sofia’s neck before the white-haired girl could protest. Jordan stepped back and admired it, hands on hips, while Sofia frowned down at herself, hand going up to tug at the tight black loop around her neck.

“A choker?” Sofia said. “Why would that—“

Sofia paused.

“Did I just— I felt that!” Sofia’s eyes widened, and she turned a venomous look to Natalie. “Really? A choker? That’s all it takes?”

“I thought it would be,” Jordan laughed. “I know my girl well.”

Natalie’s heart skipped about three times at the casual ‘my girl,’ and the choker around Sofia’s neck wasn’t helping her composure either. She shifted, folding her hands on her lap to hide a quickly growing problem.

“So, it worked?” Jordan asked, sending a smirking glance down at Natalie’s lap before facing Sofia. “I mean, of course it did, especially when it’s on you, but how much so? What’s it feel like?”

“Especially on me?” Sofia asked. “What’s that mean?”

Jordan raised her eyebrows, and Sofia glared at her—then at Natalie, as if Natalie had done something wrong.

“What?” Natalie defended herself. “Chokers are hot.”

She had to fake a level of nonchalance. Jordan, unfortunately, had a great read on her. Something about a choker, and specifically on Sofia, had her heart thumping surprisingly hard.

“Ugh,” Sofia said. “Whatever.”

“How strong does the boost feel?” Jordan repeated. “It goes to your primary stat. Is that furor or prowess?”

“Prowess,” Sofia said. “And it wasn’t much. Only just noticeable.” They’d gotten somewhat good at telling how potent stat increases were, since they could feel it happen every time they put on or took off a piece of gear. Sofia flexed her hands back and forth, frowning down at them as she made that appraisal. “But still noticeable. Not nothing.”

“Well, we’re just starting, so we can’t hope for too much right away.” Jordan smiled mischievously. “We’ve got a lot of options,, and if I had to guess, it scales up based on how far we go. So, to continue, how about—let’s say, your top.”

“My top?”

“Yeah,” Jordan said. “As in, take it off.”

“What?”

“Losing clothes is the easiest way to make an outfit sexy, don’t you think?”

“You’re serious?”

“Wait until you find out what I have you replace it with,” Jordan said.

Sofia stared at her, then turned an incredulous look at Natalie. Natalie wasn’t sure why Sofia thought she would find refuge in her. Natalie shrugged. “Jordan’s in charge. And we’ve got a delve coming up. Let’s not waste time.”

Sofia stood there for a moment. “Unbelievable,” she finally said. Deft fingers went to the buttons and straps that made up her lightweight leather armor and started working away. “Fine. But whatever you have planned, it better not be too ridiculous.”

“No promises,” Jordan said.