In the end, after trying the doors and windows, nothing worked. Even with my shadow domain and Tukare's telekinesis, nothing did. This raised my respect for Savella's ability, though I can't say the same for her mischief. With no choice, we don on the 'armor' laid on the bed, pretending we're at war.
"What?" I ask when Tukare kept glancing at me.
"You have muscles", she says when I remove my coat. She pokes my back.
"Of course I do." For some reason, your statement annoys me.
"I thought I'd see the same stick figure. Kind of miss it."
"You still lack the necessary buoyant mounds of fat on you—utth!" I got slapped on the head, accidentally biting my tongue. Well, I was asking for it.
"You're just blind." She grabs the hem of her shirt to lift up. "So blind you actually turned into a pushover." She 'hmphs'.
I turn around, studying which way I should put the dress on. Why is it so heavy? Is it really a dress and not an armor?
"Obrecht isn't Savella", I remind her.
"They're the same. Pushy as heck. You can't even give him the cold shoulder or ignore him! Do you even get angry with him? How are you going to assert your dominance in your relationship?"
Dominance... Like flipping them over from the bed to the floor and riding on them...? That counts as dominance, right…?
"Why are your ears red?" The sound of rustling clothes can be heard behind me. "Hurry up and put it on. Savella won't let you off. Though she's like that, she does stick to her word"
Oh. Tukare's praising someone. That's rare.
"You should stay five feet away from her if you don't want to get dragged into her mischief."
"Mm", I agree, pulling and this way and that and getting lost in the frills. "It's not that I don't get angry at Obrecht", I say slowly after my head pops out of the proper head hole in the dress. "He...I just can't hold my anger for long when it's him." I will my soul clothes to disappear inside the dress.
"Well I can", Tukare immediately says. "I'll happily be angry for you, for years even", she volunteers sincerely. I give a noncommittal smile.
"Ah", I gasp as she fixes the lace and strings on the back of my dress. Why does a dress need to have many strings and laces and frills?! It's so hard to breathe in this!
Tukare's dress was a wide-necked black dress, one long see-through skirt outside with a shorter, skin-tight solid black skirt inside. Mine was more like a lolita dress, with the collar completely covering most of my neck, arms, and the frilly ribbon-adorned skirt reaching just past my knees. It perfectly hid my manliness. It's a good thing it's almost winter or else I'd worry about heatstroke.
It also made me doubt when Savella prepared this. Did she pretend not to know me on the road and then set a trap for me to cross dress? That's impossible, right?
Tukare chuckles. Apparently, she sneakily tapped in my emotions while tying the laces. And thus, the dissatisfaction barged on, through seas and mountains, and various lands. It would be good if it reached Savella on the other side, extremely better if it could become so dense it could slap her.
"It's done." Tukare moves back and I frown upon seeing the low collar of her dress, showcasing her front attraction.
"Change dresses with me", I insist. At least if I wore that kind of dress, I won't need to worry that something's gonna be revealed, because there's nothing.
"What are you getting overprotective over a dress for?" She laughs me off as she grabs the knob.
The door finally opened and we're met with succeeding flashes of white light.
"Ah, ah, ah~! That's it, that's the look, that's the sexiness I was looking for!" Savella huffs and puffs heavily like a licensed pervert, taking a hundred shots per minute using a handful of memory stones.
"Still think my worries are invalid?" I ask Tukare, grabbing Savella's face, my palm covering her eyes.
Tukare, "..."
Tukare wordlessly slaps away the memory stones on Savella's hands and some crack upon contact with the floor. Savella doesn't mind—obviously the both of them are used to this too.
Savella, "I have to say, the two of you look more like twins than those Lycan twins do!"
If we look alike, why are you solely lewding over my sister's bosom. I'll feel offended like that, I think, pressing over my flat chest and emotionlessly looking down at it.
Tukare chokes and laughs, hearing my inner quips through her one-way link that she has yet to dissolve.
"Priestess! Priestess, are you home?" Someone calls out from the front of the house.
I turn to Savella but she's no longer there. I hear her voice at the front door, conversing with surprisingly a familiar person.
"It's just dinner, tell your mother we're busy fine tuning Tukare's arm!"
"And I'm telling you, you can't disagree at all! It's the Queen, you know?! Aren't you under her?" Afzal argues.
"Me?! I'm older than the teenage runaway! Who does she dare boss around?! I'll have you know, when she was younger and ran away because she didn't want the throne, who whipped her butt back and knocked sense into her? You think your late grandparents had the guts to spank her royal butt?! " Savella raises her chin, hmph-ing in indignation.
"If you're going to decline, you might as well not spout embarrassing make-up stories about my mother! Tukare, can't you convince her?! " Afzal calls over as if he spotted his savior. "Tu—Tukares?" He says my sister's name in an interrogative tone—'why are there two of you?'
Savella places a hand on my shoulder and smiles, "If you guess which one is the true older sister, we'll attend dinner—"
"Welcoming banquet! Why are you so crude!" Afzal clears his throat, putting back his impeccable courteous face as he studied Tukare and me.
"This one." Afzal points at my sister. "The other one's too tall so this one should be the real Tukare. Am I right? I got it right, didn't I? But really, priestess, when did you have the time to make a smaller clone puppet of Tukare? If you have that much time, why don't you drop by to—"
"Teaching those spoiled brats your mother raised are a big no. Making one of them my apprentice is a bigger no."
Afzal points to himself, "Then—"
"Are you or are you not included in the list of people 'your mother sp—raised'?"
Were you going to say 'spoiled' right in his face?
Afzal smartly shuts his mouth, letting the topic rest.
"I'm the younger sister."
"Your point is?" Tukare stares at me.
"I'm younger", I look back, fighting in another staring contest. "Even though I'm taller, I'm younger."
"So?"
"...You're older-looking than me."
Tukare, "..."
She grabs my neck, I back away as I slip past her arms.
"Don't think I'll let you off calling me old just because we're blood related", she says with a dark face.
"Isn't it being 'mature' a good compliment for girls?" I say with an absolute straight face as she chases me all over the place.
"You sure have luck, Afzal" Savella pats him on the shoulder. "Like promised, we're having dinner at your place—"
"Welcoming banquet!" Afzal snaps out of his daze after watching us run around. Apparently, I don't act like a clone puppet that much.
"Alright, let's go. Quick, grab him!"
I startle at Savella's yell when she appeared behind me suddenly. Tukare took the chance to clutch me, my arms trapped because of her embrace.
"We're going first then!" Savella waved at Afzal as she used magic to travel us away.