Aeric stopped walking as the summer sun beat down on his skin as they left the shadow of the embassy, he turned over to his companion and sighed. “For some reason all those conversations were rather draining on my energy, I think my social limit has been reached.”

Lshrkr turned to him and her mandibles widened, she folded her arms and cocked her hip. “For someone who is as good with people as you are you don’t interact as much with them as I would expect you to.”

Aeric shrugged, “Interacting with people takes energy and concentration, I prefer just letting things happen. Some people don’t have any expectations that you have to live up to and that’s the place I’d call home. But diplomats? Social interaction and expectations is what they're all about. I’m so ready to get back and work on the piece for Vashur. I’ve already finished all the normal clothing pieces and I wanna get to work on the custom piece.”

Lshrkr smiled, reverting to her straightened posture. “I am well aware, you have only mentioned it a dozen times.”

Aeric pursed his lips and bunched in on himself, “Well I get whiny sometimes, I just wanna make things!”

Lshrkr put a hand on his shoulder, “Then let us go home so you can get started.”

Aeric smiled and nodded, they started walking through the street, weaving their way through foot traffic. “How big is your hive anyway?”

Lshrkr cocked her head, “Our exact numbers are confidential for military purposes, but we are more numerous than this city.”

Aeric nodded, “And your goals?”

Lshrkr turned to him and raised an eyebrow, “The prosperity of the hive and the species.”

Aeric blinked and turned his upper body to face her, “That’s it?”

She cocked her head, “Is there any other goal neccesary? It might be a simple goal but it is not an easy one. We have been making inroads into society, trade has taught us many things. New classes are being discovered and drones have been assigned to their study and usage.”

“How does your whole hive-mind thing work. I know you have multiple bodies, but you have individuality. Is that just you and is the rest an extension of the queen or are the drones individual as well.”

Lshrkr clicked her mandibles in thought, she kept walking as she thought things through, weaving efficiently through the crowd. “The queen-mother is more of a… guiding network. Tasks are recieved and assigned through her… telepathy. Is what I think people would term it. The drones can connect to each other to reach maximum efficiency, while connected they think as one mind with multiple bodies. They harmonize and the individuals join to become one. If they split from their collective they regain their individuality.”

Aeric nodded, eyes roaming the crowds and speaking up to be heard over the din of city sounds. “Are the individual traits kept as the drones connect to each other? Does the collective adopt some of these traits?”

Lshrkr shook her head, “The collective becomes the median of those who have joined. If you have a coward and a drone of great courage who both join the collective, they will even each other out and the collective will be neutral in its bravery.”

“That’s kind of complicated then, are there regulations as to which drones can join which collectives? Having multiple cowards in your military divisions doesn’t seem like a wise course of action.”

Lshrkr nodded, “There are rules and sections in place, the drones are screened for their personality traits and assigned to collectives that would suit their needs and skills.”

Aeric nodded, “Sounds like an efficient spread of forces though I will admit to not being well versed in leadership or governing and the like.”

Lshrkr turned to him, head tilted. “What job did you have before you ended up here?”

Aeric twisted his lips and tapped his chin, before heaving a sigh. “I had what was called a nine-to-five job. You’d start at nine in the morning and work till five in the evening. I mostly took care of spreadsheets and internal communication with the occasional dash of technical assistance when needed.”

“So a drone?”

Aeric choked, then chuckled before it grew into outright laughted. Lshrkr looked at him unimpressed with raised eyebrows. “Sorry, there were a decent amount of people calling workers like me office drones. I guess in the end it was an accurate statement, what you said just reminded me of what my roommate always said. She wasn’t a big fan of the larger corporations, a personal dislike for the one I worked at and the way they treated their workers.”

Lshrkr considered this for a moment, “They treated people that badly?”

Aeric hemmed and hawed with his hand, “It depends, what you need to know is that a lot of the larger corperations have tens of thousands of workers if not more. Paying all these people a silver less would make a decent bump in the profit the people at the top made. Profit was the driving factor behind these groups, not the healthcare of their employees.”

Lshrkr shook her head, “It sounds inefficient in the long run.”

Aeric shrugged, “You’d think so right? But they've been doing this for a few decades at least, so maybe they have something else that keeps everything working that I didn’t notice. I honestly didn’t pay that much attention I was just drifting through things at the time. Didn’t have anything I was actually passionate about. The life I now have here? I much prefer it.”

Lshrkr hummed in thought as the pair turned at the end of the street and made for the district they called home. Lshrkr got a few greetings and friendly waves once they made their way to more familiar streets. Aeric just kept his normal slightly friendly smile in place as he thought about the day. It was something else, meeting a group of new people. Forging connections, networking, for lack of a better word. Not something he was used to doing or he saw himself doing too often. Too bad it hadn’t brought him any new inspiration, his idea for the toga/yukata hybrid was good. But not something he’d call special, it was missing a little something but he had no idea what to add.

He continued to run various idea’s through his head, changing the colours, adding a little gimic. But nothing properly fit, the right side, the one that was sleeveless. It needed something more, something to complete the look. He was thinking of a ghostlike thin layer to cover that side but that would ruin the whole sleeveless thing, not to mention it just ended up looking out of place Everything he thought of was too flashy to connect to the piece. What was he missing, what could he add. Lost in his thoughts they finally ended up making their way home, Aeric distractedly said his hellos to the girls before he sat down behind his workbench, grabbing his drawings and the blueprint for the custom piece. He frowned down at it and tapped his quill.

“What’s he doing?” Xii whispered to Lshrkr, who shrugged.

Yisillia tilted her head, “I think he’s trying to think of something to add to the piece.”

Hurma raised an eyebrow, “It seemed like a good piece? Why does he need to add something.”

Aeric snarled, “Because it’s jsut a good piece, I don’t want a good piece I want a great piece. The dress I made for Irma was… It was fantastic it just, everything fit. It was more than just a simple dress. The yukata is good for normal clothing but it’s not ART.”

The girls looked at each other and shrugged, leaving him to his work. Aeric frowned down at the paper and chewed the end of his quill. He wasn’t happy with the piece and now that he fully realised it he was in brainstorming mode. Everything he came up with either ruined the classy feel of the piece and turned the entire ensemble gaudy or took too much attention away from the clothing.

A glove? Utterly unfitting for a gnoll, same with hand wrappings. Some dye for the fur to make it come together? No that would require something seperate from the clothing, something he had no control over. It wouldn’t be part of the piece, same with jewelry. What else did he have to work with, shoes? He wasn’t a cobbler though and most gnolls preferred to walk barefeet, they had pads and could walk around on them comfortably. That left, a headpiece?

Aeric hummed as he tapped his quill on the paper, a headpiece might work but what was something that would fit the traditional dress. One of those ornamental leaf branch things the old greeks wore? He imagined it on Varush and it just ended up looking somewhat ridiculous. Varush had somewhat long hair at the top of his head perhaps that could be braided and beaded or adorned with clasps like Bramzur had in his beard. But again the problem would be that it wouldn’t be part of the clothing just an external addition. He groaned in frustration and massaged his temples.

The best idea he had was to add a hat, maybe something like a trilby, but a trilby plus a yukata? That made all his fashion senses scream in protest. Even if those senses could be considered to be newly developed. Aeric stood up and started pacing uneasily, the girls watched him with some morbid amusement. He kept walking back and forth for a few minutes before he sagged back into the chair.

“I’ve got nothing, I have no ideas on how to add anything to this piece. I could try to come up with something else entirely… But I like the yukatoga.”

Xii snorted, “You know sometimes you act more like a mopey girl than we do. We at least are girls. Stiffen up buttercup, not every piece can be great. It’s something you’ll have to get used to. It’s still a really well made piece of tailoring, or it will be once you get off your ass and actually start working on it.”

Aeric opened his mouth with a grumble only to recieve a slap to the back of his head.

Xii glared at him, “Seriously, stop being a little bitch. Just get to work.”

Aeric frowned as he glared back at her before his shoulders sagged and he got his needle. “I wasn’t being that bad.”

“Yes you were.” Hurma immediatly replied, “You were leaning into that act way too deep. If you’re gonna put up an act at least leave the negative bits out of it. You’re gonna drive yourself insane.”

Xii nodded, “All that whining? Not attractive, very much not sexy.”

Aeric rolled his eyes and then rolled his shoulders, “Fine, fine. I’ll just settle for subpar work then.”

Yisillia raised an eyebrow, “Is that what you would call our work then?”

Aeric raised an eyebrow and smirked at her with a teasing twinkle in his eye. “Do you want an honest question to that answer? Hobbyist?”

Hurma snorted, “Yes do allow us professionals to show you the error of your ways pretty elfling.”

Yisillia’s jaw dropped and Xii burst into laughter, “Did Hurma just sass you?”

Yisillia blinked and tilted her head, “I think she did, Aeric is a horrible influence we’re going to have to get rid of him.”

Xii chuckled, “I approve of this idea, no more worrying about a horny young man peeping in in the bath.”

Aeric spluttered and put a hand over his heart. “Peeping? My dear lady do not insult me with your ill conceived flights of fancy! I’ll have you know I totally prefer the crawling into your bed and stealing your underthings type of creepy. It’s why you're missing that lovely pair of red lace panties.”

Xii grinned, “Why steal em when you can just ask?”

“Takes half the fun out of it obviously.”

Yisillia groaned, “Will the pair of you ever stop flirting?”

“Probably not.”

“Yea not gonna happen, it’s a healthy expression of our sexual intent Yi. You should try it some time.”

The elf groaned and slammed her head in her hands, ears tipped with red. Xii and Aeric laughed at her misfortune while Hurma had a small smirk and Lshrkr shook her head in fond exasperation. From the front of the store they heard a voice, “If you do ever get to the point of bedding eachother, invite me! I’ve heard a ton of rumors about some really nasty things I wanna try out. Like the one where an Avian ca-”

“Treeka! Shut up!” Yissilia yelled as she stood up and glared in the direction of the storefront. Chirping laughter could be heard from the storefront as Aeric and Xii grinned at each other and winked conspiratorially.

“You people are horrible.” The elfin muttered as she jabbed her needle through the cloth.

“Only because you make such a fetching shade of red my dear.”

“You two totally do this on purpose” She muttered below her breath.

Aeric chuckled, “Of course we do, it does make it easy to lighten the atmosphere though, so thanks for that. But to be fair I’m also reasonably certain that this is what we’re like naturally. It’s kinda fun.” A hum of agreement was his answer from Xii.

Yisillia groaned and waved towards his workbench, “Will you just get to work?”

Aeric smartly saluted, “Yes Ma’am!”

He looked over the fabrics and felt them, he would go with ironid wool for the outside, it was softer despite the name. Carpenter cotten for the inner layer, it was stiffer and he could use it to meld the fold the way he wanted, keep that figure line neat. He wanted the stitching to be relatively invisible and he needed to watch the inseam. He could let Hurma do the embroidery, she was great at it. Yet the urge remained to do the whole piece himself, it just fit together better when he did. Also it would apply his skills better over the whole.

The sash itself he planned to make from silk, a softer material to hold the rougher one together. He thought about making the white embroidery just the slightest bit luminescent but decided against it. Again too guady, he’d stick with the normal white silk thread. He got to work with cutting the cloth roll in the right shape. Most of the stitching would be done over the next couple days. The clothing itself wasn’t nearly as complicated as the wedding dress had been. He figured he’d be done with most of it by the end of the week. He ran his scissors over the cloth and felt the fabric.

He shook his head silently, he had gotten stuck in his head again. He’d noticed it happening more than usual lately. It was very unlike him, getting agitated over something missing? Not feeling great? Very unlike him, he wasn’t always the most outgoing guy. But the one thing he’d always considered himself great at was the stability of his temper. In all his life he had gotten angry maybe twice, he was nearly impossible to frustrate. Yet his emotions had been much more turbulant than he was used to. Was the magic messing with his brain chemistry while it adapted to the magic in the air? Now there was a harebrained theory that might actually hold some weight.

He flourished his needle and let it dance through the cloth. “Do you guys know if magic and skills mess with emotions?”

Yisillia looked up, “There are magic and skill that affect emotions, yes. Why do you ask?”

Aeric shook his head, “Not like that, but the primal form of magic, the foundation of all skills. For someone unused to them like me, who comes from a place devoid of both. Could the appearance in a new world affect our brain chemistry? Change our emotions?”

Yisillia paused her stitching and looked up with furrowed brows, she exchanged a worried look with Xii. “Are you worried about your emotions?”

Aeric pursed his lips and leaned back in his chair, hanging his head back and looking at the ceiling. “I don’t know, maybe? I don’t feel like how used to, my drive is different as are my emotions. So I was thinking perhaps my body is adapting to this world and my brain is handling that by overdosing some things with chemicals? Or something? I don’t know, I’m not an expert.”

Yisillia frowned, “Well I actually am an expert in the body of most species, I could take a look if you want. Use some of my magic to check out your brain and compare it to what I know from the humans I've treated or looked at before?”

Aeric nodded, then sighed. “I’d appreciate that, even if it’s just to put my mind at ease.”

Yisillia shrugged and stood up and walked over to him, her hands glowed green and she put them on his temple. Aeric gasped as it felt like his head was dipped into a bucket of ice, at first it felt freezing but then an odd sense of relaxation and comfort spread through his body. Aches he hadn’t even known he had disappeared, his muscles unknotted and his breathing came easier. The small aches that he had in his wrists which had developed from work behind a keyboard for hours every day disappeared.

He groaned in pleasure, “I should have asked you to do that ages ago, holy shit is this what using drugs feels like?”

Yisillia smiled at him, “I have been told the feeling is quite nice, I’ve had warriors who've become a bit addicted to the sensation. The good news is that you’re a healthy human, a lot of specialized antibodies that fight diseases.”

Aeric shrugged, “Probably from all the vaccines we had.”

Yisillia nodded, “That would do the trick, as for your brain chemistry it is indeed odd. It’s overproducing some chemicals, but it’s already working to balance itself. Your guess about adaptation to magic and skills might have been accurate. Would actually be something interesting to research.”

Aeric snorted, “Would also be kind of hard to research cuz you would have to find worldwalkers who only recently appeared and then check out their brains in comparison to others of their race. If the worldwalker in question even has others of their race on this world.”

Yisillia smiled, “If research were easy, everyone would be doing it.”

Aeric rolled his head, “Technically everyone does do research, they just don’t realise it. Finding out your favourite food, what’s the best way to cook a stew. Pinpointing something exact is technically research.”

Yisillia rolled her eyes, “And stabbing yourself with a sword by accident could technically be called combat. You’re full of nonsense.”

Aeric laughed, “You only now found this out?”

She grunted and slapped the back of his head, “You’re all healthy, don’t blame any of your future problems on the doctor.”

Aeric grinned and winked, “Don’t worry doc, I’ll come back when I need you to kiss the pain away.”

“LALALA I’m ignoring you, I’m totally ignoring you.”

Aeric laughed and looked over at Xii, “And so lo and behold, I have laid low our elder of many centuries and turned her into a child.”