Esmie the Calamity Chapter 25 (Patreon)

** Phew, I'm really struggling to write the next Ryn chapter. My brain just wants soft gay stuff rn, and the next like 4 chapters of Ryn are pretty much the opposite of soft gay. My schedule is probably going to stall out here sorry. Then I might put Ryn down for a while before burnout actually hits. Maybe pick something else up for the cycle, I don't know.**

The sun was dipping low on the horizon by the time Ruth released us from her dragony clutches. No sooner had the call ended than I had bolted for the door, leaving my roommates calling after me with futile attempts to rein me in. At least, I think they were trying to rein me in. Either that, or they were just asking what I felt like for dinner.

In no time at all, I was bouncing through the door of the Coin, looking out for Sandy and Shiori. It very quickly became evident that they weren’t on the main floor of the tavern, which put a big ol’ pin in my excitement. Damn it.

Were they even online? Pulling up my friends list told me that Sandy was not, in fact, online. He’d logged out some time this morning, judging by the timestamp. Shiori though, she was apparently still in the game. I sent her a message, asking if she was free and telling her where I was.

Wandering over to the bar, I got myself some sugary cider cocktail thing and sat down to wait. The drink had some sort of gingery flavour to it, and they’d shoved a small stick of cinnamon in there too. I stared into the fruity mixture and stirred it with the stick, wondering what I was going to do about my first solo stream. I had a few days to plan, but most of the stuff I did on my own was just eating gross ingredients and then puking, so… that probably wasn’t something people would want to watch.

Nearby, there was the thump of a door opening and a series of light footsteps approaching. I turned to see Shiori, wobbling to a stop in front of me. Her pretty elfin face was pink in the cheeks and all bunched up in a grin as she pulled a stool up and hopped onto it leapfrog style.

“Hey,” she beamed, breathing heavily. “Phew, no matter how much running I do, taking the stairs three at a time always leaves me winded.” The giggle that followed made my heart bounce funny in my chest. God, she was so gorgeous like this.

“You were upstairs?” I asked shyly. I felt almost intimidated by how conventionally attractive she was. Her big, impossibly green eyes were huge and inviting, while the smattering of freckles over her nose made her look all girl-next-door-y. It was an effect that ran throughout her whole character, too. It was like she’d copy-pasted the blonde love interest from a college football movie or something. If she busted out some pompoms I wouldn’t even question it.

“Yeah, in my room,” she said, still smiling at me. “I fell asleep after your stream, actually. It was so cute, by the way. I can’t believe I made out with an idol!”

Giggling, I tapped my feet against the bar in a rapid little dance and inspected my drink again. “Yeah. Crazy, huh? I was so nervous.”

“I had your nipples in my mouth,” she mumbled, biting her bottom lip and looking away. Now we were both shy, oh gosh.

Okay, it was definitely time to hide behind my tail. This was a lot to deal with. I mean, we barely knew each other and we’d already… I don’t know, this was like, a base right? People called this like… uh… god I don’t know.

“So um… what did you want to do?” she asked, clearly just as thrown by the whole situation as I was. I think we sort of needed Sandy here as a catalyst, to be honest. I didn’t know how to talk to her on my own, especially after last night.

I blinked a few times and stared at her lips, trying to remember what I’d come here for. In a moment, it came to me, and I blurted, “Oh! I wanted help finding an alchemy shop so I could buy some proper apprentice alchemy equipment.”

She appeared to think over my request for a moment, then suddenly she snapped her fingers. “I know just the place! It’s uh… not really above the board, though.”

I hummed in consideration, then shrugged. “Sure, I don’t mind that.”

"I mean, yeah, obviously not… why did I even ask that? You literally helped us steal a bunch of shit yesterday," she laughed nervously, bopping herself gently on the forehead with the palm of her hand. "I'm such a ditz sometimes."

"Same," I grinned, touching her bare arm as I did so. Dang she looked good in her outfit.

She wore a black cloth vest over a dark grey shirt, the sleeves of which were rolled up past her elbows. Her pants were the same colour as the shirt and very tight, to the point where I was wondering how the hell she was avoiding a public display of bulge.

She must have caught me staring, because once we were outside and heading for the shady store she'd mentioned, she turned to me.

"Um, so… I know you said you were fine with it last night, but it really is cool with you that I have, you know…?" she asked hesitantly, gesturing down at her groin.

I stared at her in confusion for a moment. "Yeah? I mean, I was grinding against you last night."

"Ah… yeah," she blushed, smiling down at her feet.

"How are you keeping it so flat down there, though?" I blurted before I could stop myself.

Her startled laugh was high, pretty, and musical. It sounded like a chandelier would if it was converted into pure sound. "It's basically just a big clit until I'm horny. I spent a lot of time with the gender options getting it how I wanted it."

"Oh, I saw those," I nodded, trying really really hard not to stare at her crotch. Don't stare, don't stare, don't stare… oh god I looked.

"You're so fucking cute," she chuckled, reaching over to squeeze my hand for a moment.

My cheeks heated even further. "No you."

She threw me another dazzling smile and ducked her head. "Thanks for being chill about it though. It's always a minefield to deal with when I meet people who… you know. I just hated the idea of not being true to myself when I was making my character."

Despite the somewhat serious topic, I couldn't help a little snort of amusement.

"What?" She asked, her guard coming up just the tiniest bit.

"It's just funny because I did the opposite," I said, throwing her a soft smile. "I'm… like Sandy, out in reality."

She blinked, slowing to a halt in the street for a moment before someone almost walked into her from behind. An exchange of insults with the guy later, and she glanced back at me. "You're a boy out there?"

"I guess so," I shrugged. "At least… I thought I was."

"Well, I mean… I get that," she chuckled darkly. "I'm transgender, so yeah, I definitely get that."

"I… that's the thing where you turn into a girl or a boy right? Like, the opposite of the one before?" I asked, cringing at my complete lack of eloquence. God, I was walking with the social equivalent of two left feet right now.

"Yeah," she nodded, amusement dancing in her deep green eyes. "But also no. It's a whole thing. I can't be bothered explaining the complexities right now, though. It’s exhausting sometimes."

"No problem," I told her, reaching out to squeeze her hand. "I meant more… literally though. When I first got into VR, I didn't have a body scan. The computer had just my genetic signature and my search history to go off, and… well, I sort of looked like neither boy nor girl. So yeah, dunno?"

“Oh!” she said, eyebrows rising in surprise. “Maybe you’re intersex then?”

I shrugged and slipped my arm around hers. “Don’t know. I’m not in any rush to find out anyway, since I’m in long term storage now.”

She was silent for several long seconds, her face unreadable, then she suddenly smiled and turned to face ahead again. “Makes sense. We’re almost there, by the way.”

We arrived at what appeared to be a rundown old warehouse with a bored looking pair of workers outside. Inside, though, we found a thriving, bustling flea market, except it was full of probably stolen goods. Shiori deftly maneuvered us through the place, until we came to a stall that was selling various alchemical instruments.

With the funds I had at that point in time, I was able to afford a cute little apprentice’s alchemy set, and a box full of proper glass potion bottles. The owner even said he’d hold another box for me when I said I’d probably need more later.

Everything was shoved into my inventory for safekeeping, and then we were out of there. Shiori said that things could sometimes get out of hand in the lawless market, so it was best to get in and out quickly.

“Thank you so much,” I said once we were out. “I’d never have found this place, and now I think I have an idea for something to do in my first solo stream.”

Dodging a horse and rider who appeared to be in a hurry, she gave me a shy, happy look and replied, “I’m just happy to help a nice, pretty girl.”

“This face is based on that body I was talking about, by the way,” I said, threading my arm through hers again to keep us together as the streets bustled with people going home. “I barely changed anything other than uh… defining the gender.”

“Well, then I guess I can say with certainty that you, Esmie, are a very pretty girl,” she said, reaching over with her other hand to boop me on the nose. “A pretty girl who is going to be very famous soon, I just know it.”

“Maybe,” I blushed, uncertain how to take the compliment. It made me feel all fuzzy inside.

“Definitely,” she said, booping me again.

Oh gosh, she was being very friendly. Now I wanted to kiss her again. I wonder if she’d… wait, I knew how to find out. I had to use words.

“So… uh, want to go back to the tavern?” I asked, giving her a look that told her exactly what I was thinking.

She glanced down at her feet bashfully. “I… um…”

Oh crud, she didn’t want to. I’d stepped too far. “Sorry, it’s okay if you don’t want to… I mean we can just—“

“No, no! I’m a bit too tired to deal with all the craziness of the tavern, so I was thinking maybe we could go up to my room?” she asked quickly, interrupting my spiral into embarrassment.

My stomach dropped low with a sudden burst of arousal. “Yes…” I whispered, looking into her hopeful, lidded green eyes. “Yes please.”