Trouble With Horns

6: Flammable

I managed to get back into the inn a few minutes later, my legs shaking and my face struggling with a grin. I politely asked Jill where my room was, which I would apparently be sharing with her tonight. She sent me off with a knowing smirk and a deceptively casual response. That woman was possibly the savviest person I had ever met. Street smarts for days!

I found the room and chose the bed that didn’t have stuff piled on it, falling into it face first. I was still struggling for control of my legs, and I was pretty sure I was flushed from groin to hairline. I didn’t care in the slightest though, that had felt so good. I needed to convince someone to do that to me again. Fire hair seemed to have problems or something. Maybe she wasn’t single? Anyway, I had a new mission, besides leveling up and finding Taylor that is.

Speaking of Taylor, it seemed she was keen to continue her tradition of awful timing. I had an incoming call.

I flailed around in bed until I had accepted the call and groaned, “Whaaat?”

“Wow, what happened to you? I see you’re clothed this time, and in a bed, so you found shelter!” she laughed, poking fun at me.

I rolled over and glared up at the screen above me, “I’m fine, thank you very much oh vaunted sister. I found a party to tag along with into town.”

“That’s good. I was a little worried about you after I read up on your starting region. It seems a little… intense at night,” she said tenderly, then squinted at me, “You’re really red, did you get sunburnt or something?”

I couldn’t help a snort of amusement when I shook my head, “Uuuuhh, nope.”

“Oh no I didn’t catch you masturbating did I? I mean I know you said you didn’t have the dysphoria so you might like-” she said, getting a little flustered and starting off on a bit of a ramble.

I interrupted her with mock outrage, “I’ll have you know I don’t need to masturbate, I found someone to eat me out instead!”

Watching my sister’s slightly stunned face as she computed what I’d just said was priceless. She opened and closed her mouth for a few seconds, then her face broke into a grin that was somewhere between grossed out and proud.

“Really? How on earth did that happen? You have to tell me! Well, not the gory details but, you know,” Taylor asked, leaning forward eagerly.

There it was, she couldn’t resist the story!

“So when I spawned into the game, there was this cute chick fighting spiders. She tried to stab me at first, thinking I was a spider. Anyway, fast forward to the Inn and we make eye contact. You know, the eye contact. So I don’t think much will happen, but I got down to the dance floor because I’m loving this body and I want to have a dance with it. Dude grabs my ass, and that chick swoops in and saves me. We have a dance, then we’re making out. She takes me out back and eats me out. It was the best fucking feeling of my life Taylor! It was only like five minutes ago, I’m still dealing with the repercussions,” I said, almost giggling my way through the explanation. I really did feel so fucking good. Holy shit.

My body was still singing with the feeling, and I felt a little floaty. I also noticed I was keen for more. Why did she have to run off? We’ve had first orgasm yes, but what about second orgasm?

“She huh? I guess that makes sense. But just… wow. I mean like I knew you had a reputation outside of the game, but you’re just trucking right along like being a chick hasn’t changed anything. It’s kind of impressive,” she said, “Told you about the guys thing though. Need to watch out for that.”

“I mean, this is… it’s different. I like it so far,” I said, then remembered the gymnastics thing, “Oh! Taylor! I’m bendy enough to do all my old gymnastics stuff! It’s so amazing! I’m actually so happy! I am totally going to go out and find a flat space to test myself again!”

“Oh I didn’t even think about that. You used to love your flipping around didn’t you?” she asked, smiling along with me.

“Yeah. I missed it… but I didn’t realise I missed it this much. I feel so great!” I exclaimed, reaching up and touching the wall at the head of the bed.

I walked my fingers slowly up the rough lime of the wall while I thought about how nice this all was. The sex had been incredible. It wasn’t just that the orgasm had been different, it was the whole thing. The way I had been pursued, how she’d been both insistent and gentle. She’d treated me like I was special. There had also been a much more heightened sense of… I don’t know, was it connection? We’ve barely said anything to each other, and yet I’d gained so much insight into who she was and her nature by the way we’d been intimate.

It kinda sucked that we might not bump into each other again, but I wasn’t too upset about how she’d rushed off. She obviously had issues with something going on, and she should do what works for her. It would have been nice to have a bit of cuddle time together afterwards though. I always liked that part the most, up until she showed me there was more to sex than what I had been experiencing.

“What’cha thinking about there Tami?” Taylor teased gently.

“Sex,” I replied cheekily, then said more seriously, “It’s just crazy how… I hope you don’t mind if I get a bit TMI, but yeah it’s crazy how much better sex felt this time. I’m trying to figure out exactly what is different, because this time makes every other time I’ve had sex just pale in comparison.”

Taylor chuckled, and said thoughtfully, “Maybe it’s just the difference between men and women?”

“Naah I doubt it, because other men talk about sex like it’s the meaning of fucking life, so they must be feeling something,” I said, shooting down her idea.

“Well, that was all I had sorry,” she laughed, “I’m not as experienced as you, my dear twin.”

“True. You should give it a go though. I think I’m going to have some fun in this game,” I said, thinking eagerly about my future exploits.

“Oh my god,” she laughed, rolling her eyes, “Alright then, well I’d better go. Make sure you actually level up as well. I want to play the game with you as some point this year!”

“You got it sis, have a good night,” I smiled, waving happily into the camera.

“You too sis, sleep well,” she smiled, then cut the call.

I smiled and lay back into the bed for a few minutes before I decided to get in and go to sleep. I undressed and piled my clothes haphazardly on the floor, then slipped between the sheets. Oh they felt great on my just barely orgasm-glowing skin, even if they were a bit rough. I felt so content. Happy even? The mix of good feelings helped weigh my eyelids down, and I was on the cusp of sleep when I realised something. Taylor had called me her sister. I was far too tired to analyse that, and the feelings it produced, so I shelved it and let myself drift off.

** If you are not reading this on SH, it has been stolen. My author alias is QuietValerie. Come find me! **

The next morning, I was woken up by someone moving around my room. I struggled to make sense of the odd sensations I was feeling for a moment before I remembered where I was. More importantly, I realised with a surge of about a million different feelings that I was Tami. I lifted the cover just a tad and saw my naked body under the covers. My naked girl body.

“You alright there Tami...pesa whatever, you alright?” Jill asked, failing to pronounce my full character name.

I let my head fall back to the pillow with a secret little smile, “Call me Tami.”

“Right. You’re good then? Myself and the party have to start a trip down to the capital today, so unfortunately we’ll be leaving you here. We’ve all added you though, so we can keep in touch,” Jill said, smiling fondly down at me.

She was dressed in her travel clothes again, and her things were all backed up into her backpack. Guess they were off without me. That was fine, I had so many people to do… and things too.

“Yeah I’m good, thank you for everything you’ve done Jill. My start to the game would have been a lot rougher and a lot less… enjoyable, if it hadn’t been for your generosity,” I said.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re a good kid. I’ve paid for this room for the next two days, after that you’ll have to talk to Darb after it,” she said, already moving towards the door.

“Cheers! Thanks so much again Jill,” I called from the bed.

“You too Tami. See you later,” she replied, and then the door was closed and I was alone.

Damn, talk about running a tight schedule. Judging by the light filtering in through the shutter over the window, it was early morning at best. I guess they had to keep all the toilets stocked with toilet paper.

It took me almost an hour to stop relishing the bed. I had to put on the same clothing I’d worn yesterday, which was a bit gross, but what can you do when you only own one set of clothing. It was odd, standing in the room having put on my clothing, because I felt like there should have been more preparation before I left.

I left the inn through the back door after grabbing the simple cheese and bread breakfast that came with the room. I really wanted something nicer, but I figured that cost money I didn't have.

Outside, the area behind the inn looked very different under the light of day and without the distraction of a pretty girl. The ground was hard packed dirt with grasses and weeds attempting to grow around the edges. The distance to the stables, and the nook behind it, was around thirty meters or so. Far larger than the old gymnastics floors I had bounced around on as a kid, but without the springy material on the ground. I wasn’t worried about its lack, as I wouldn't have it in combat either.

Before I tested myself out, I did some stretches. I didn’t know how realistic the game was, but it felt like the stretches were helping. Things had been exceedingly realistic so far, so I wasn't going to take any chances.

Once I’d stretched, I decided to start small, just putting myself into a handstand. I didn’t have any bars, horse or rings to use, and that wouldn’t be terribly relevant in the game. Nor had I been good enough to really do anything too dangerous on them either, so it would just be floor stuff.

The handstand was laughably easy, and I swapped to one hand with just a bit of wobbling. Seems my balance had translated too. I let myself down, and took some deep breaths as I readied myself to do a front flip. I ran forward a few steps, leapt once, landed and used both feet to push forward and into the air, shifting my center of gravity forward to perform the flip. Which I landed!

I continued to test myself, finding that I had lost some of my abilities since I was young, as well as this body having no muscle memory whatsoever. I was still happy though, and once I levelled up I’d be getting better and better at all this.

My testing came to an end when I received a text message from my sister.

LipsAndShades: Hiya Tami! How’d you sleep?

Tamipesagniyah: Great! It was so hard to get out of bed…

LipsAndShades: I can imagine! Hey Mum and Dad sent me a message wondering how you are, since you never reply to anything, they came through me.

Tamipesagniyah: Tell them I’m good. I assume they know about the break up? I can’t imagine Kristina being too quiet about it to her parents.

LipsAndShades: Yeah they know. They send their love, and want you to call them some time.

Tamipesagniyah: But that would mean getting out of the pod…

LipsAndShades: Nah. You can make calls from in the game. I’ll gift you some paid currency so you can call them. You will have to explain the girl character to them though.

Tamipesagniyah: Hahaha, that will be fun!

LipsAndShades: Goof. Make sure to get some levelling done today too. You need loot and levels.

Tamipesagniyah: Yes dear sister, I know. Thanks for checking in

LipsAndShades: Love you sis. Stay happy.

Tamipesagniyah: Love you too.

I smiled at the exchange, my sister was very caring, if a little helicoptery. She called me her sister again too… I guess it was because I was a girl in the game and her mind was defaulting to feminine pronouns.

With the reminder from my sister urging me on, I made my way out onto the street and then through the city. Now that I was aware it existed, I could clearly see the strange patchwork of lore friendly stuff vs the new amenities the adventurers were putting in. The square in front of the gates for example had a public toilet that looked freshly built. I didn’t have anything to do in the square, so out the gates I went and into the great beyond. Well, into the forest anyway. Calling it the great beyond felt like a bit of a stretch.

I entered the forest where it had been cleared away from the walls, and began my search for things to punch. I decided I was going to punch and crack and break all the spiders. I had a new giant friend to impress with my kill count after all.

It took almost half an hour of walking before I was jumped by the first spider. It didn’t stand a chance! I caught that fucker as it jumped at me from a tree and beat it to death against said tree. This time, I actually took the easily harvestable materials from the corpse and put them in my inventory. It was nice to have something to actually put in it. I’d been too distracted by my rather rude introduction to the game yesterday to remember to loot anything.

The spider became spider meat and raw silk in my inventory. Items safely stowed, I set off in search of more prey, and my word did I find prey! Spiders were soon launching themselves out of every little corner at me, and had I been arachnophobic, I would have been out of that forest as fast as my legs could carry me. Instead I was… Arachnomurdery? I don’t know what the word is for that.

I punched, kicked, burned and stunned my way through this seeming horde of spiders, looting the corpses when I had the chance. It was like I was walking into an oncoming storm of spiders, but thankfully they were exceedingly weak to my build, and just exceedingly weak in general. They were the absolute epitome of useless starter zone monster.

Which meant that it took almost two hours before I heard the little chime that indicated a level increase. Finally some damn progress! I quickly cleared the rest of the group of spiders I had been fighting, and then opened the level up notification.

I was given a point to spend in my attributes, which I slam dunked immediately into speed. I was then given some points to spend in my ability trees. I searched through all three for good opportunities to spend the points, and eventually settled on the Unarmed tree. There was an ability component in there that was designed to be used in a passive ability slot.

I hadn’t really looked at my passives yet, but it seemed like the one the game had given me was fairly crap. I opted not to replace it, seeing as I had open slots available right now. Instead, I brought up the ability creation screen and got to work.

Presented before me was a triangle of nodes with lines connecting between them. Into the first of those slots, I put the component I had just purchased. It was a buff to my flexibility! I wanted to be the bendiest chick in the game after all. The next piece to be slotted was one that designated this as an always-on passive. This meant that the overall effect was reduced, but it didn’t drain stamina or mana. To the third slot I added another flexibility component, and once the game told me this was a viable ability, I hit accept.

I felt the change in my body instantly. It was a very hard feeling to describe, and the best I could say was that suddenly my limbs felt like they moved with a new smoothness. Descriptions aside, I felt happy with my choice, and almost skipped further into the forest.

My happiness was given a cold bucket of water to the face when something truly ugly screamed at me from a tree. It screeched in some nails-on-chalkboard language and leapt at me with a cry. It looked like what would happen if you took a stereotypical goblin, painted it grey and then sun-dried it and gave it wings. In it’s little fist it held a sharpened stick like a spear, and it was aiming it straight at my chest. No thanks!

I twisted to the side, only barely avoiding the rough tip of the weapon in time, and then grabbed the little shit by the leg. It gobbled in surprise, trying to twist around in my grasp and stab me with the pointy stick.

I slammed it viciously into the ground, then lit my foot on fire, and rammed it down hard into the chest of the thing. The stick fell from its grasp as it screamed in pain and scrabbled at my leg with long claws, but I didn’t let up, pressing down even harder instead. It didn’t take long for it to die to the fire damage, and from the combat log I got a name for it.

It was apparently called a Tephim. It was obviously at least moderately intelligent, because when I picked the stick up, I found it had been crudely sharpened using a stone or something. When I examined the corpse more closely, I saw it was gently decaying into a shimmering dust. I crouched down and quickly collected the dust, wrapping it in some large leaves from a nearby plant. The dust, when it was in my inventory, called itself Essence of Air. More shit I didn’t understand yet, but it probably sold okay.

The Tephim had been much better experience than the spiders had I noticed, and I smiled happily into the forest at the thought of finding more of these things. I hadn’t really been making progress with the spiders.

The unfortunate thing about that smile, was that the forest smiled back. Evilly. Tons and tons of the little creatures poured out of the woodwork, all holding some form of crude weapon, and some even had armour made out of spider carapace. On no. Not like this.

I turned and ran, and the forest exploded into sound and motion behind me as the horde of irate little grey Tephims tried to chase me down. I dodged between trees and under branches with as much speed as I could manage, and thanked my past self profusely for the flexibility perk. It was doing some serious work!

It wasn’t enough however, as the little cretins were slowly gaining on me. There was only one thing for it. I swapped to my demon form and carefully furling my wings against my back as soon as they manifested. The added strength and speed of the demon form proved to be the deciding factor that kept me ahead of my angry enemies, and with the breathing room that it provided I was able to start thinning out their numbers.

I began bending large branches back as I ran, then releasing them into the surprised faces of my pursuers with satisfying results. Once again I found that I was enjoying myself, and I let out a little giddy whoop of excitement. This was more than a little hilarious if you looked at it objectively. The Tephims were too small to take too seriously, coming in at what I estimated as around three and a half feet tall. I may have even started yelling insults back at them. Yes I’m just that mature.

I was watching the results of a particularly satisfying splattering-by-branch when I heard someone talking ahead of me. It was muffled by the foliage at first, but as I got closer I was able to make it out.

“...so if you collect these herbs, you can use them to make a balm that stops most low level venom from spreading! It’s a really useful little herb, and is also great used as seasoning for red meat dishes, especially a hearty beef soup!” an enthusiastic and very adorable feminine voice said, right before I burst into the clearing.

I got a mere handful of seconds to take in the clearing and it was gorgeous really. Idyllic even. Wildflowers bloomed across the little field, with lush grass and other plants covering the rest. A small pool of crystal clear water that was fed by a tiny stream sat at the opposite edge.

At the edge of that pool, a short elf girl who looked around my own age was just glancing up from where she had been picking herbs. I had no idea who she had been talking to, because she was alone, but that was very close to the bottom of my priority list right now. I was not going to train a butt load of angry imp-things into the poor girl.

I lit my foot on fire again and spun, sweeping the ground in a wide arc and lighting it on fire. My closest pursuers found themselves dashing into a line of flame that was almost up to their tiny chests. Some even fell through it, the fine white hairs across their body lighting up like the Hindenburg at its prom after-party.

The burning ones ran around screaming, and I had time to notice that they were burning far more… robustly than they should have been for living creatures.

Wait.

Oh.

Essence of Air. Fire likes air. If they were made of the Essence of Air as well as normal fuel…

I found myself chuckling with glee as I Idly touched my fists together in preparation. These little fuckers did not know what was about to hit them. I dodged the first one to leap at me, catching it in the chest with a fist that whipped with rioting flame. My blow sent it burning, screaming and cartwheeling to the side to land in the grass, leaving a trail of singed grass in its wake.

I became a demon, not just in looks but in essence as well. I leapt across the clearing, my fists and feet aflame as I smashed and pulverised my foes.

Every now and then one would get its crappy little weapon pointed at me, and I’d easily weave to the side like a tree in a gale, only to snap back and deliver fire and death by fist. I found myself enjoying things a little too much I think, because I swear I heard myself cackling. Like a disney witch or something.

It was over in a matter of minutes, the last of my foes burning and stumbling blindly through the clearing before they finally collapsed.

I stood there, my fists raised as I looked around for more, but I found none. The clearing however… was a bit of a mess. There were erratic trails of scorched flora where the burning Tephim had tried to run, and their corpses and charred bits littered the grass like detritus left behind after a storm. I looked sheepishly around at the damage. Opps.

The girl, who appeared to have fallen into the pool when I had so rudely burst into the clearing, stared over at me from her position still in the water with awe filled eyes.

“Uh, sorry about that,” I said awkwardly, rubbing the back of my neck with a hand and stepping forward.

The girl didn’t reply, instead letting out a little, “Eep!”

“Uh, my name is Tami. Ummm, yeah. I was being chased and they were angry and I uh…” I tried again, attempting to explain why her beautiful little clearing was now on fire.

I received more stunned blinking in response, so I moved forward and offered her a hand. I knew from first hand experience that the water would be cold. Instead of taking the hand, she lowered her gaze to stare at it for a moment, then looked back up at me.

“It must be cold in here. Come on! Out you get,” I said gently, extending my hand further.

She finally got the message and reached up with a nervous and shaking hand to clasp mine. I pulled her out of the water with ease, she weighed next to nothing even with the waterlogged clothing. Or was it maybe that I just had quite a lot of strength while I was in this form?

I stepped back, giving her space to stand and orient herself, and getting a good look at her in the same breath. She was half a foot shorter than me, with long flowing white hair and sparkling blue eyes. She wore a worn and practical looking dress made out of some tough looking fabric, with tight pants made of the same fabric underneath. Her head had previously held a big floppy sun hat, which was now floating lazily down the stream several meters away.

I leapt over to it using my wings for extra power and air time, and scooped it out of the river, then jumped back to the girl. Shaking it out a bit, I sent droplets of water flying all over the place, then handed it back to her.

“So um, yeah. I’m Tami. Sorry about that… I didn’t expect to run into anyone while I was out here,” I said, introducing myself again.

“U-um… I’m… I’m Alchemilla. M-millie for short. I guess. It’s okay about the fight. I guess. I was just here to pick some herbs and show them to the people watching my stream,” she said, stammering her words at first.

“Oh, you’re a streamer? That’s cool!” I said self-consciously, wondering how many other eyes were staring at me from around us.

Her eyes lit up at my praise, and she bounced on the balls of her feet for a moment and grinned.

“Yeah! I have almost twenty thousand subscribers!” she exclaimed excitedly, then frowned and mumbled, “Oh, that’s bragging isn’t it?”

“You’re fine Millie. Be proud! Sing your achievements to the sky!” I said encouragingly.

This girl was hella sweet. I wanted to pet her. Not in a dirty way though!

“Thanks! I always feel bad when I talk myself up like that. I don’t want to be arrogant or anything you know,” she said earnestly.

“Fuck you’re adorable,” I laughed, and then chuckled some more when a blush bloomed across her face. She was damn pretty, in a helpless kind of way.

“U-um… Thank you,” she mumbled, looking down at her feet in embarrassment.

“No problem. Hey I just noticed the time, I think we should probably be getting back to town yeah?” I said, looking up at the sky.

The sun was getting to the point where I was pretty sure we’d only just make it back if we tried. I must have been punching spiders for longer than I thought. It was hard to tell the time from under the canopy of the trees and flying arachnid body parts.

“Oh! You’re right! Oh no!” Millie said, rushing to a reasonably untouched section of the clearing and picking up a satchel.

The satchel was… well… absolutely stuffed with a very wide assortment of things. There were roots, fruit, berries, random green leaves and even a small rodent or two. Girl was prolific I’ll give her that.

She bounced back over to me and looked up expectantly, “Which way?”

“You don’t know?” I asked, suddenly concerned.

“Um, no I don’t… I got a little distracted when I found this Spirrul,” she said, pointing to one of the small critters that was dead in her bag.

“Riiiight. Well I guess we’ll have to do our best,” I said apprehensively.

With a nervous eye to the sky, we set off in what I knew was vaguely the right direction. I really hoped we didn’t find out what the horrors of the mist were. I was not high enough level to deal with that shenanigans.

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