Matthew blinked stupidly, shocked almost witless, as the door he was starting to open suddenly flew open and Rebecca pushed out past him in a rush and spun around in a furious spin of bright rainbow colors. “Guess what? I’ve figured out what I can wear!” Laughing lightly, Rebecca did a quick spin in the middle of the hallway, causing the tattered rainbow strips of her skirt to flare out and leave light trails of rainbow light lighting behind as they rippled mesmerizingly around her.

Mouth wide agape, Matthew blinked several times and simply stared. Just what the hell happened in the bathroom in the short time he was gone?! Bewildered in the change in her dress, and her mood, he shook his head several times and then strode out to the center of the hall, grabbed Rebecca by one arm as she spun around, and tugged her tightly up into his arms. Laughing lightly, she leaned inward, wrapped her arms around him, and then gave him a tight, strong hug.

“Is it safe out here?” Giggling slightly, Rebecca pushed herself back slightly and finally took the time to look up and down the hall, checking for any sign of danger.

“It’s safe,” Matthew sighed, as he took a step back away from her slowly. “You should always check for that before anything else, or else you’ll regret it when it isn’t,” he warned her as he slowly looked her up and down. It was surprising how much she seemed to change in just the little while that he’d been gone clearing the hall and checking for survivors.

Her long, golden hair wasn’t in the ponytail anymore – it hung long and flowed freely down her back, golden waves bouncing free and loose as she moved. Her white top looked like it’d been through a shredder, with the top ripped off, the bottom torn into ragged strips, and most of the buttons were now gone, leaving only one single button to try and hold the whole thing together in the center of her large, ample bosoms. The skirt she was wearing had been ripped, torn, and shredded to the point where it could almost be called nothing more than a set of ragged, long tassels, and did very little to hide the curves of her hips or the bare round flesh of her buttocks – and when it rocked and swayed when she moved, glimpses of warm, inviting flesh tantalizingly beckoned.

In its own way, Matthew thought the whole effect was more alluring and exotic than when she’d been completely naked just a little whole before.

Struggling, his brain tried to choose the words to convey what he was feeling, but all he got out was, “What the hell?”

“I was bored in there alone,” Rebecca explained, glancing up at him with a twinkle in her eyes that wasn’t there before, “so I did some experimenting with the clothes that were left in there. I think I’ve figured out some of the restrictions a spelldancer faces with clothing and armor!”

“Ooooookay…” Agreeing, Matthew simply stared and enjoyed the view as she fidgeted and swayed slightly to some odd rhythm of her own making. “So what’d you learn so far?”

“Well, for starters,” Rebecca laughed lightly, “I don’t think a spelldancer is allowed any sort of underwear. No matter how I try, I can’t put anything on in layers. Once I tore my panties properly to be more like a loincloth, I could wear them again, but then I couldn’t put the skirt on over them. Apparently layered clothes aren’t allowed.”

Curious, she asked, “Is that normal for everyone in the game? I know a lot of games I’ve played, or seen played, only had a few primary slots for a character to equip gear in.”

“I’ve never encountered any problems like that,” Matthew told her honestly. Grinning slightly, he tugged the waistband of his own shorts up about an inch so that they’d be visible above the edge of his pants. “See, I’ve got undies here,” he told her, laughing lightly himself. For some reason, her jubilant mood was contagious.

“I wondered about that,” Rebecca tittered. “Then it’s just not something that a dancer gets to wear, which I guess is somehow understandable. I know that there’s a lot of clothes that a woman isn’t supposed to wear underwear with -- like some of those slinky black dresses and such. The panty lines are said to be a fashion faux pas and ruin the outfit…”

“So you’re never going to be wearing underoos?” Smirking, Matthew made a point of ogling her up and down, causing Rebecca to blush and turn her back on him. Taking the opportunity, he stepped forward and wrapped both his arms around her stomach and hugged her up tightly against his chest.

“I guess not,” Rebecca admitted, “unless there’s some sort of special dancer-only underwear out there. Maybe a G-string or a thong,” she suggested, sounding dubious.

“Well, I hate it, but I guess I’ll deal with it if I have to,” Matthew said, a large smirk twitching at the corner of his lips.

“And that’s not the only thing!” Energetic again, Rebecca once more pulled away and turned to face him. “I thought at first that the problem with the shirt might be with the sleeves, as I couldn’t put my arms in them, but even when I ripped them off it didn’t work! I thought maybe it needed to be strips or ribbon-like, like the skirt, so I shredded the sides and back, and that didn’t work either!” Staring at him, she half glared, almost making Matthew feel like it was his fault somehow.

“I was going to give up and almost think that it was a topless class, or something else stupid like that, but then I started experimenting with the underwear. Torn properly, the panties are wearable like a loincloth, but the bra just didn’t work at all. I couldn’t put my arms in it! And it was then that it suddenly hit me,” she laughed gaily. “Try and guess what the problem was,” she demanded, a smile twitching across her lips and a twinkling glittering in her eyes.

“BZZZZZT!” Without even giving Matthew a chance to answer, she tapped a finger across his lips and let out a sparkling laugh. “It wasn’t what you were thinking! It was the damnable shoulder straps! Apparently spelldancers don’t wear stuff over their shoulders. Don’t ask me why! I don’t know why,” she shrugged, “but once I unfastened the shoulder straps and just tried to hook the back of the bra, it worked! When I tried to fasten the shoulder straps, I couldn’t do it.”

“I haven’t learned anything about shoes, coats, or anything like that yet,” Rebecca admitted, pouting slightly. “I can tell you one thing though – if I can’t wear anything more than something like this, I’m going down south for the Winter! I’d freeze to death otherwise!”

“We’ll find you something magic before then to keep you warm,” Matthew promosed.

“If we don’t, we’re migrating like the birds,” Rebecca insisted, flipping him on the nose lightly with her finger.

“Fine,” Matthew finally agreed. “We’ll migrate like the birds, if we don’t find something to keep you warm before cold weather gets here.”

“Deal!” Laughing merrily, Rebecca skipped forward and wrapped one arm around his and tugged. “Then let’s go back to the classroom!”

“The classroom?” Allowing himself to be tugged along, Matthew half frowned to himself. Wasn’t she supposed to be his companion? His woman? Shouldn’t he be the one leading the way, and her following along behind him?