- Shari -
The rest of the time we waited I spent carefully explaining to Myra that Liqu is not going to kill her, she has nothing to fear, as long she doesn't turn hostile, and that I will do my very best to keep that slime in check.
The results were so-so.
But I think I could at least convince her that now that I'm watching over Liqu it's better than when she was running loose.
Finally, the other two are coming back and so the tense atmosphere gets lighter.
They wouldn’t have agreed to leave her with us if they suspected any real danger.
Nonetheless, it is a bit of proof from our side that everything is still fine.
Even Chris was visibly relieved seeing his supposed girlfriend unharmed.
"Myra, did they do anything to you?" (Chris)
"No, it was mostly calm." (Myra)
Yet, while saying that she throws a glance at Liqu; whose previously mentioned killing spree was still affecting her a bit.
God, Myra!
Your boyfriend is paranoid!
And just now you were acting all secretive and had to say something ambiguous.
Now he will surely ask himself what happened at the time when it wasn’t calm.
I hope he isn't one of those people who follow pre-emptive approaches to things that bother them.
But far more surprising was that Jacob looks also visibly shaken.
I don’t know why if nothing happened.
I mean, he agreed to this.
"What is wrong?" (Shari)
"Never again!" (Jacob)
"What do you mean? (Shari)
"I will never do something like this again! Do you have any idea what looks someone like me receives, when he buys face powder in the wealthier districts?! Especially from the female shop attendants!!" (Jacob)
"Pft-glrb" (Shari)
I don’t know if the rising bubbles are an identifiable sign, but alone the part where I cover my mouth should have been revealing enough for him to realize I was laughing at him.
"Sure! Laugh about the one who you sent through hell for your beauty products!" (Jacob)
"Glrrrrrrbsh" (Shari)
Sorry, but this is just too good!
Imagining him in his fighting attire, still dirty from the journey, surrounded by noble ladies in their fine dresses, completely lost on how to approach the counter with the face powder.
Even slime tears are coiling on the side of my eyes.
"Are you done?" (Jacob)
No sorry; I need a moment longer until I can think straight again.
"N-now. Now it should be possible. S-so despite your… troubles, could you acquire the object you sought under greatest personal hardships?" (Shari)
"Yes sure, here's the box. I took a bigger one considering your… needs." (Jacob)
I take the cylindrical container and open it carefully.
And inside is the white substance.
But before I can apply it, there is another problem.
To set up a working disguise, it's necessary that I at least cover my whole head, since they most likely will order me to lift my hood.
But what I cannot cover with the powder is my hair.
This blue, melted, viscous slime hair.
Just using the powder on it will not work, with how it consists of thick strands.
And it will be completely impossible to shape it into the form of normal hair.
It's simply too complex of a structure.
I should have asked Jacob to buy me a wig in addition.
But I forgot and the three silver for the powder, which I now assume, for Jacob's sake, that this was the full price, left my finances quite dwindling.
So there's simply no budget for something like this.
And straw would look too fake to work out.
Like this only one possibility remains.
One I don’t want to pursue.
One that will hurt my pride as a girl!
Like this, I am contemplating... sigh, and pull my hair inside my body.
Yes, as things are I have no choice.
I will go bald.
Now I can apply the powder.
Well not me, as even if I have a mirror I am still unable to safely cover my whole surface since I can't see everything properly and already need all the concentration I have to prepare my surface for the powder.
The boys are out of question.
But while I believe that I could convince Myra, I would feel bad for the emotional strain this would put on her.
Even more when there is a certain someone who would be just too eager to do it.
"Sigh! Can you help me here, Liqu?" (Shari)
Wait! Wasn’t she like fifteen meters away from me when I last checked?
How did she…
Never mind.
"Just put the powder on my head, without wasting too much." (Shari)
"Yes, yes, yes! I give it my all!" (Liqu)
God, she is practically beaming at the prospect that I'll allow her to touch me.
I simply don’t believe her that she only has a platonic relationship in mind.
Nonetheless, she is far more skilled than I would have thought.
Her movements are calm and accurate, and she is passionately using just the right amount.
Meanwhile, I try to harden the respective areas, as I did with my core membrane or my fingers before, to prevent the powder from just merging with the matter.
It takes a fair amount of time and I start to become a little bit worried if we can get this done before it gets dark.
Finally, she's done.
I instructed her to apply it to the eyes as well, aside from the spot in the middle, to have a little human-looking white there.
This blurs my vision a bit, but I can still see enough to be operational.
Now first I need to confirm if this will even work and ask the humans around as test viewers.
Well, two of them, as I have no nerve now for "You won’t deceive me, creature!" from Chris.
"And?" (Shari)
"I-I think it covers you quite well!" (Myra)
Well, I can't expect more than that.
Since I just want to avoid the monster stamp, looking weird must suffice.
"It could be a problem that you still have no pupils. But I have heard that there are mages who have eyes like this." (Jacob)
I had considered putting pebbles inside.
But my view is already so dulled with that mist of the powder around my all-around view, which I’ve got accustomed to, that having my eyes obstructed with stones would be inconvenient.
As I already stand out that association is not much worse.
So it works.
Yet, two slimes need to get into this town.
And I need now to do something I really would like to refrain from.
"Liqu could you… Damnit, how do you always get this fast behind me? Argh, forget it, just sit down here!" (Shari)
So I begin to cover her too.
Reluctantly I admit, she was better than me at this.
What did you expect?
It’s not like my family had the budget for makeup or even the possibility to obtain it.
And I really don’t know why Liqu is so talented.
After I’m done, a third of the box is empty, and a little sticky.
Nothing I can do about that.
Okay, this has to suffice.
And yes, it is impossible to describe the joy on Liqu’s face when I worked on it.
Something a little bit past "Now I can die in peace!".
After I’ve got the okay from the others for my work, maybe a bit enforced by Liqu who made it very clear that she would only accept praise for my efforts on her, we finally tend to make our way to the gate.
Please, let nobody die!
Yeah, I was thinking that Myra staying would be interesting when buying the powder.
Following on my offer to proofread, these are my observations:
Other than a few negligible issues (mostly punctuation) that could be corrected, the only real mistake I found in the chapter was this:
Her movements are calm and aimed. And she is passionately in just using the right amount.
I would rewrite it like so:
Her movements are calm and accurate, and she is passionately using just the right amount.
The "in" was extra there, and the word "accurate" fits better in my opinion. Also, while it's not wrong, many would say that you should never start a sentence with "and" (unless it's dialogue), so I replaced the dot with a comma. It's completely optional, though. If you prefer the dot, it will still be fine.
Here's an alternative that could also work:
Her movements are calm and accurate, and she is passionate in using just the right amount.
Thanks for the chapter!
Thank you for this.
Weeeelll, I mean I'll see but I just can't see this working out... unless they really luck out with some lazy AF guards...
Poor Shari... I really feel her getting desperate for human surroundings even against all reason. Setting up in a secluded hut, maybe getting a small stream of income for stuff like clothes by trading herbs 'n stuff with a nearby village in sketchy disguise or through a person of trust would have been a lot easier to achieve than entering towns I reckon. She'd have to keep distance with humans tho for anything long term sustainable... and towns are not really a great place to limit human contact.
We're talking about Ekoras. The guards are lazy AF.
For a hut, she would first need money since slimes aren't great at swinging a hammer. But I'm sure Liqu would vote for being for the close future always alone with her Shari in a cramped place.
@expentio yeah... luckily for our slimy protagonists. So far it seems like the perfect city for them.
Less morally inclined slimes could probably get quite a nice place for themselves in the underworld of the city as well...
@Sizano I'm sure there's always a demand for cheap corpse dissolving in the mafia.
I just found the story and binged through it, so obviously I've been enjoying it. There is a bit of an inconsistency though since I thought she does have a mirror, her mom handed her a mirror as she left if I remember correctly.
Absolutely right. I somehow had this scene different in mind for some time after I wrote it and thought I had just said then that she couldn't apply it on her own.
You know, it's a really small mirror, she already needs her concentration for slime control, has no makeup experience, couldn't do the areas of her head she can't see since the roundview is too dull, while she would cover the looking area, and she has just one arm free as she wouldn't grow more.
Generally speaking, I do not understand why she went to the city before she studied and mastered her body well enough.
This clearly shows the author's desire to quickly advance the plot of the novel.
@torvn77 She doesn't really want to study her body since she is quite traumatized about this.
The alternatives to looking for a place to stay, are the forest or a cave and she hates the thought of living like an animal, even more just with Liqu. (Who is not against the idea of a love cave)
Also, training isn't coming naturally to people. This working on yourself to become stronger is nothing normal people always do. She has set clear limits for herself, like not leaving her human form and like this she has no intention to do anything that might stretch this perception of herself. In the first place she would rather not fight humans/ train to kill them and desperately looks for a compromise.
@torvn77 Sorry, I don't speak this language.
To learn martial arts, they first go to the trainer and only then fight the hooligans.
Hatred of your body, the desire to live in society is not a reason to behave like a stupid and asocial teenager.
If she needs to communicate with people, then she may well do it outside the city, or at least outside the big city.
Along the roads with heavy traffic, there should be enough settlements with hotels, horse changing stations, and so on.
To go to the city without acquaintances, without the skills of fine work, without the skills of rough work, despite the fact that there will be flayers who catch magical creatures coming from the forest is precisely an infantile whim and adventure.
Sorry, this google chrome translated the message before I posted it.
@torvn77 Never said her plan is thorough. But most of the settlements at least in Rakis are along the few main roads (there's a reason for that). Especially in Ekoras, you won't find much outside of town since there are the monsters in the monster forest. Ekoras is a wild city where not too many questions are asked. In other smaller ones, she won't have that luxury. She is exactly going inside to build herself a network.
Right now she wants to follow these adventurers to find out who they are selling to. With the income, she can find a lasting way to make a living, even buy flesh. She has a plan for rough work. That's being a gatherer, herbalist and by chance hunter (well, that part is Liqu's).
That's her plan. That it's the best there could be wasn't said, but it's the one she came up with.