“Good news and bad news,” Liz said cheerfully, sliding her food tray onto the table across from Natalie. The bubbly royal ending more and more of her lunches with Natalie’s group. Ana had also joihem. “Which do you want first?”

  “Bad news?” Jordan suggested.

  “It’s a trick question, they’re the same thing,” Liz said. “The good news is that Elida’s team has kit duty for literally the whole week. The bad news is they didn’t get any real punishment. I ’t say I’m pletely surprised, but it’s still kind of …” she trailed off, trying to pick a word.

  “Bullshit?” Natalie suggested. “Yeah. That’s kind of me.” She still hadn’t made up her mind on how she wao handle Elida and that entire event. A big part of her wao coe glorious revenge, but at the same time, Jordan’s words sat in her mind—maybe instigating a rivalry with the promi daughter of a major royal family wasn’t the best idea. Sometimes taking it on the was really the best move. Even if it pissed her off.

  For now, she held the grudge to the side. She’d decide ter.

  “But I do mean all week,” Liz said. “Even the weekend. She messed up her own delving schedule because of it.”

  Natalie blinked. “Oh.” That was better thahought, then. “But not all day, right?”

  “Yeah. So they still go. But it messes up camping down in the dungeon; they o be back each m.”

  “It’s something, I guess. And ear?”

  “We’re getting most of it baot all. Some ‘petition’,” Liz quoted the words with her fingers, “is enced at Te. But bined with our haul yesterday, aing a det k of our previous delve back, we’ve made out like bandits. We’re in a good position going into this week.”

  “Especially with rades,” Sofia said. “I mean, you saw Nat during practice today.”

  Natalie paused, then turned a fused look at the white-haired girl. Had Sofia just plimented her?

  “We’re all level two, I take it?” Liz asked, cutting off Natalie’s bafflement. “We didn’t actually bring it up. But me and Ana are. You three?”

  “Then that makes all of us, yeah,” Jordan said.

  “What’d you get?” Liz asked Natalie. “If I ask. I saw you fight, but what skills?”

  Jordan turned a signifit look Natalie’s way, and Natalie wrinkled her was too perfect of a segue to not broach the subject. [Stylish] o be discussed with the team.

  She’d start with the non-weird one. “Ohat makes rge ons handle easier,” Natalie said. “Hehe ge.”

  Liz made a noise of appreciation. “The dungeon must have known what you’d get, dropping that two-hander.”

  The extent to which the dungeon was se or even prest for debate, but Natalie herself doubted it had known. Just a tal lucky drop. Hardly worth arguing about, though. “Yeah, maybe. Anyway, I’ll probably take it down during our delve today.”

  “Tomorrow,” Ana corrected. “We’re not delving today.”

  “Sofia’s petition,” Jordan said, bumping an elbow into Natalie’s side.

  “ht,” Natalie said. She’d fotten. “Tomorrow then. Anyway, that was one skill I o mention. The other is, uh. Well.”

  Liz paused, then blushed, putting two and two together. “Reted to your css?” she joked.

  “Yeah,” Natalie said. She looked around the cafeteria—no one was nearby—then lowered her voice. “So, uh, basically, if I’m attracted to what any of my teammates are wearing, they get a stat bonus. And the same in reverse, for me.”

  The table paused.

  “Excuse me?” Sofia asked.

  “That’s, um, iing,” Liz said.

  “What if we wear nothing?” Ana asked. “Does that t?”

  Everyone looked at the dark-haired mage, eyes wide.

  Ana tilted her head. “Because I assume being naked would be the most arousing, wouldn’t it? Or near it. So is it the highest stat bonus?”

  “How is that where your mi?” Liz squeaked.

  “It’s a good point,” Jordan said, amused. “Maybe we should be a rings, amulets, and accessories only team. And I mean only.”

  Liz turwo shades redder. Natalie wondered why Jordan had to always instigate, these days.

  “We get bonuses if you’re aroused?” Sofia said, gring at Natalie, her voiearly a growl. “What is wrong with your css, Nat?”

  “Think I asked for it?” Natalie shot back. “Not like I had a choi the matter.”

  Natalie paused.

  Well, that was a lie. She’d actively been given a choice; she could have taken the default css options. But her point stood.

  “I’m not delving naked,” Sofia said ftly. “There’s limits to how much I’ll deal with your css.”

  “Didn’t ask you to, did I?” Natalie said. “It’s just a skill the team should know about.”

  “Hmph.”

  “Don’t even know how it works, anyway,” Natalie said. “It might just be, like, a minimum thing. That the outfit has to meet some basic requirement, then you get the full boost, and it doesn’t scale more for how crazy it is. I’ll figure it out ter.”

  “How? With who?” Sofia asked, then paused, realizing she probably shouldn’t have asked the question. Several eyes turned, naturally, to Jordan.

  “The things I do for friends,” Jordan said wryly. “Unless someone else wants to volunteer?” Her eyes turo Liz, who colored brightly.

  “Anyway,” Natalie said. “Now you guys know. So there.”

  “I nning on finding something to wear under or over those new robes of mine,” Ana said, “but perhaps that’s not necessary.” She shrugged. “I don’t mind. Mage equipment is mostly magical protes. It’s more of an issue for Sofia and Jordan. Walking around stily cd has real defense implications.”

  “The sluttier stuff usually has shield effects built in,” Jordan said. “So the trick will be finding natural dungeon gear like that.”

  “Won’t be that hard, I bet,” Sofia grumbled. “Somehow, I bet the dungeon’s going to be very aodating over the following days.”

  Nobody disagreed.

  “We’re going to have such a reputation at Te,” Sofia said. “A team of five women, all dressed in slutty gear. you imagine?”

  Natalie could imagine, and it was having unfortunate effects on her. She shifted in pce, and Jordan’s lips quirked. Uhe table, she patted Natalie ohigh—unfortunately close to a growing problem. Really. Why was Jordan always causing problems these days? She’d always been the person to smooth things over, before.

  “We’ll have back-up gear, I was saying,” Jordan said. “Something to wear around normally, and our real set of gear we’ll put on in the dungeon. Because yeah, I don’t mind making use of the skill when we have some privacy, but maybe not around campus.”

  “And if someone bumps into us down there?” Sofia asked. “Or during school events where armor is allowed?”

  Jordan shrugged. “Well, we’ll deal with that whe to it. Depending on how strong the boost is, though, could definitely be worth it, embarrassing or not.”

  “It was just a heads up,” Natalie said, wanting to move on. “We’ll talk more about it ter.” It had just been for the best if they were told in advance. But detailed discussions were kind of pointless, since she still o experiment with the skill with Jordan, discover its limitations and such. Which would, of course, be a in its ht.