Rising Shards

I could feel the energy from the entire dorm as I finished getting ready. My makeup looked pretty dang good I thought, and the dress surprisingly fit perfectly. The one I ended up getting was a sky blue one, not super extravagant, but I actually thought I looked pretty in it. I think the one I had for the masquerade ball where I first accidentally met Zeta was a bit fancier, a bit more sparkly, but this one felt...elegant. Like I was royalty when I wore it.

As soon as I had it on, my power blocker wristband binged.

”Tutorial required for adaptive prom dress,” The familiar voice said, one that I’d heard explain and warn about plenty since I got my wristband.

”Sure, yeah,” I said.

”In case of an emergency requiring more tactical wear, your dress can be shifted into void traversal gear,” the voice said. With some taps on the wristband’s projected screen, I could shift into basically the outfit I had for running around in the void. It also let me switch between a dress and a tux, and let me mess with the colors. Not wanting to waste too much time on that, I scrolled through the settings quickly to get the tutorial done. I didn’t fully understand how the clothes shifting tech worked outside of it being something like Cani shifting. It was basically magic to me, happening so fast that I didn’t really process I had something different on for a few seconds.

”I better not need this,” I said, sighing as I shifted from the loose and comfortable traversal gear back to the dress. I had to admit the chances of me needing to were rather high. With the imp things or the various other incidents we ran into, stupid business was always just around the corner.

But maybe this will just be a nice, normal dance. I’ll get to dance with Zeta, hang out with Lillia, and then...maybe Kalei will tell us what’s going on right after.

I felt a bit silly going from my dorm outside to the nearest parking lot, where Berin waited.

”You look wonderful, Oka,” Berin said. ”It’s no limo, but I hope the regular car is fine.”

”I’d much rather this than a limo,” I said. ”You sure you wanna drive me? I can probably walk, it’s just on campus.”

”I said I’d drive you,” Berin said.

”It’s like not even a block,” I said. ”But thanks.”

Sure enough, it was about a three minute drive going from the dorm parking lot to the new one by the freshly finished dome. That parking lot was full, so Berin had to drop me off at the curb, which I was of course fine with.

”You’d think you’d have like a good parking spot here,” I teased.

”Technically I’m not even sure if I work here with the Falling Shards move...” Berin said.

”That still not finalized?” I asked.

”I mean, I am still working here, but here is getting mixed with over there, but where exactly I’m ending up is...well, it’ll probably be at the old Wildfire Hearts campus, which...” Berin shook his head. ”You don’t need to worry about any of that right now.”

”I’m not really worried,” I said.

”Kay, I’m trying to be a warm and supportive parent here,” Berin said.

”Uh huh, and I’m making it difficult for you, as I am wont to do,” I said.

Berin just laughed. He hugged me before I got out of the car. ”You’ll have a great time, I’m sure. I’ll be around chaperoning in a bit but...anyways. Have fun!”

”Woo! Fun!” I said, cheering as Berin drove away.

Now to find my date. Zeta had texted me saying she was running a bit late. She had gone home the prior night, so she was getting a ride from her sister. I thought about how funny it’d be if Stella ended up renting a limo for this, but then realized that wouldn’t be that fun because I was already here. It wasn’t a limo that dropped her off, but Dr. Diast’s car was a strange sight as it pulled up. Zeta stepped out of the backseat that had Ms. Corinani and Stella’s friend Pippi.

”Alright, have fun!” Stella called out from the shotgun seat. ”Chaperones are gonna get lunch then we’ll be back!”

”Uh huh, uh huh,” Zeta waved.

”And, sorry for the ride not being some big, fun thing,” Stella said. ”And sorry that...yeah.”

”No, it’s fine...they needed a ride, I guess...” Zeta said, not really hiding that Ms. Corinani probably wasn’t the most fun person to be in a car with.

”I’m sorry we had to pull over three times, it wasn’t that I was nauseous, I just thought I was going to be,” Corinani said.

”It was four,” Zeta said.

”I offered to ride in the trunk,” Corinani added.

”Yeah, that’s illegal, and you’d probably get hurt,” Dr. Diast said. She waved at me. ”Alright, seriously, have fun!”

”Woo! Fun!” I said, repeating my pose from earlier. ”Right, Zeta? Woo? Fun?”

Zeta picked up on whatever bit this was and chimed in, matching my fist pumping and gave a ”Woo! Fun!” of her own.

After the chaperone car left, the two of us stood on the sidewalk, just softly smiling at each other. A bit nervous, a bit awkward, like we were going on a first date again.

”Um...sorry I didn’t have a big, grand arrival,” Zeta said.

”Berin drove me, so no grand entrance for me either,” I said.

”I heard that some people are gonna go ride on the train to LE and back just to...I dunno,” Zeta said.

”Be dramatic?” I said.

”Something like that,” Zeta said. ”But I kinda like us having simple arrivals. This part is the important part, the uh, the dance part.”

It was at that moment we both really noticed each other, particularly how our dresses looked.

”Oh. Shoulders.” I said, not realizing I’d said that out loud until Zeta reacted.

”Y-yeah, this...” She laughed nervously. ”How’s it look?”

Zeta twirled around.

”Oh my god,” I said, almost reaching out to grab her tail, which had a cute bow on it. ”Why didn’t I think of that? That’s adorable!”

”Heh, I should’ve told you so we could match, but I wanted to surprise you,” Zeta said.

”It’s amazing,” I said. ”You look...really good, the uh...”

To say she looked gorgeous was an understatement. Her dress was a darker shade of blue with accents in the same sky blue color as mine. She looked like a princess, and while I tried to get the words out, Zeta spun around again, and I pretty much short-circuited.

”Butt...or, ass, rather,” I muttered. Then realized I also said that out loud, not just my mental observations of how the dress, er, looked very good on my beloved girlfriend and how it...let’s say accentuated certain features.

Luckily, only Zeta was close enough to hear that, the other arriving students to the dance in their own little worlds. And also luckily, she reacted way more positively than I deserved for that utterance, her giggles sweet enough to build a candy factory with.

”Did you mean to say that out loud?” Zeta asked.

”I...that’s...” I blushed furiously and tried to recompose myself.

C’mon, you’ve seen her naked now, don’t be weird. Be normal, be normal. Just be normal and don’t be weird.

Zeta had known me long enough and knew me well enough to read me like a book.

”Telling yourself to be normal?” She asked.

”Maybe...” I said.

”I am too,” Zeta said. ”That dress...really looks good on you.”

I was a bit jealous Zeta was able to not blurt out what she was thinking, but her blushes and glances downward gave me enough of a hint.

”Sorry, I know we shouldn’t be ogling each other already,” I said. ”I don’t wanna be weird right from the get go.”

Zeta surprised me with a sudden hug. Her dress felt so smooth to the touch. ”Let’s be a little weird, it’s our thing. And I also don’t think it’s that weird to find your girlfriend attractive.”

”Something we’ve been over quite a bit, huh?” I snickered. ”Alright, alright.”

I could’ve just stayed there hugging her, totally fine if we missed the dance. But we’d come all this way, and we both wanted to dance, so the next step was finding our friends.