Her Elysium (Flowers and Keyboards 1) {GirlxGirl}

Chapter 9.5 - Fleur

Starting note: I know it isn't Halloween yet, but this chapter was originally posted as chapter 9.5, so I'm keeping it in place. The normal chapters take place at the end of the school year, so we made a time jump that also includes a little relationship progression, though nothing too far ahead.

Halloween = One of those holidays that somehow all online videogame worlds share even though only very few countries in our world celebrate it... It often comes with outfits, special items and... shapeshifting.

"Are you sure?" I turn around in front of the small mirror hanging on Alex' closet door. "I'm not..."

Alex steps behind me, looking over my shoulder. "Yeah. Definitely sure."

I roll my eyes at her, but then turn around again, shaking my head. Today is the Halloween get-together with the guild, we're all supposed to dress up and Alex and I may have had the worst idea yet... "At least you have it easy." I look her way, and she checks herself out in the mirror too, then shrugs, grinning.

"Can't help it that mine is easier to pull off." She twirls around a little, pulling up her knee and her arms, making a pose from the game and I look away, butterflies in my stomach.

For the last couple of days, we've worked hard to make these costumes. Not only are we going as our game characters, but we're going as gender-swapped versions. This year, as one of the special Halloween buffs, you would be randomly assigned one of the races for half an hour, even some cool non-playable races were in the mix. Somehow, as we were talking late at night, we got the idea that it would be cool to gender-swap our characters. Especially since I originally mistook Alex for a guy because she plays a male character.

So, we worked our asses off, first to find some references, and then the gear we'd want to wear, and then we actually had to put the gear together. Luckily, I'm a caster, a healer, so even though I had to sew some clothes together, it wasn't too complicated, just time-consuming. And then I had to make some pieces of foam and other stuff to make my shoulders wider and give more of an idea of being a little broader than I really am. It was very fun, especially when I kept trying things on and in one of the earlier trials my shoulders would slide to the front or the back, not exactly where you want shoulders.

Alex on the other hand, had to make quite a few structural pieces that would still be able to move, since female tank gear isn't exactly the most practical, but we were able to find a gear set that was both not too complicated to make and would be wearable in late October. Making it was fun, but to now see her wear it... that's a different experience.

I push at my shoulders, making sure they're in place, then I pull on the shirt, trying to make myself look like a male dryad, while uncommon in actual mythology, they seemed to have somewhat existed. Anyway, Destruction of Elysium did choose to include them, which made our idea possible in the first place. I'm mostly lucky that the race is slim, not like the race that Alex normally plays. Some of the races, especially ones more connected to earth or mountains, are huge, and I don't think I'd have been able to pull that off.

Alex puts her hand on my shoulder. "You'll be fine. Really." She turns me to her, plucking at my hair a bit. We've pulled it up a little, shortening my hair to a more masculine style. "Just one more spray of hairspray and you're ready to go." She steps back and my eyes are drawn to her long legs. She's wearing heels, which she doesn't do often, and with the fishnet tights and the short gladiator-type skirt, her legs look even longer than normal. She turns to me, raising her eyebrows. "What?"

"Nothing." My cheeks heat up.

"Well..." She steps closer, putting her hand over my face as she sprays. Then she steps back. "Looks good."