Having finished clearing the door entrance leading into the auditorium, Rebecca finally noticed Jennifer sitting naked and staring at one of the large encyclopedia-sized books Matthew had shown her earlier. “What the hell is she doing?” Rebecca asked, wiping sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.

“She’s trying to concentrate to class up so she can join us and improve her odds of surviving in this screwed up new world.” Matthew explained calmly. “Hasn’t been able to do it yet though, with all the hacking and slashing, slime and sap splattering you’ve been doing.”

“Well exxxxxxxxxcuuuuussse me!” Snorting lightly, Rebecca eased over and leaned back against the wall beside Matthew. Glancing down the hall and back towards the gym, she didn’t see any sign of the other students. “You know,” she frowned slightly, “I wonder why we didn’t see any teachers in with that group of survivors?” Glancing over at Matthew, she paused for a moment as if debating something and then shrugged and undid the button on her shredded top. Bunching the ragged cloth up in her hands, she took a moment and used it to help wipe the sweat off her arms and chest.

“No idea,” Matthew shrugged, frowning slightly. “You’d think out of all those people at least a few teachers or coaches would’ve been in with them. I didn’t think to ask.”

“Didn’t think to ask?” Rebecca half snorted, using what was left of her tattered top to try and scrub as much of the sap and slime from her legs as possible. Seeing Matthew watching, she stopped for a moment and raised an eyebrow in his direction. “What? You got a problem?”

“No. No problem,” Matthew chuckled. “Just enjoying the view of those big mounds of yours swaying freely when you bend over like that. Any chance you could say ‘mooooo’?”

“Asshole.” Snorting lightly, Rebecca flicked her wrist and snapped the bundled up shirt much like one would a rolled up towel, and twapped him in the upper leg with it.

“Yeouch! Watch where you’re aiming or you could break my family jewels!” Matthew hopped a few steps back from her and reflexively put both hands down to protect his groin.

“Serves you right,” Rebecca muttered, “if they do break. You shouldn’t call a girl fat.”

“Wait. What?” Matthew blinked a few times and looked confounded.

Going back to wiping down her other leg, Rebecca ignored him. “If you have half the brain of a pissant, you’d know what I was doing. I’m preparing for battle.”

“By taking off your top and rubbing yourself all over? I like the way a spelldancer prepares for battle,” Matthew laughed. “And I never said you were fat. When’d I say that.”

“You called me a cow,” Rebecca reminded him, glaring up at him with an obvious death gaze. “And I’m not just rubbing myself all over. Remember what I told you about a dancer?” Pausing for a second, she shrugged lightly and then answered her own question. “Probably not with your tit-damaged brain.” Sighing deeply, she finally straightened up and tossed the gunk covered remnant of her shirt over her shoulder and onto the pile of slime-covered vines and moss which she’d hacked and pulled free from the door.

“Dancers get bonuses to their magic when they look appealing and presentable,” she reminded him. “I assume they also get penalties when they’re all covered in moss and muck and slime. There’s no way to take a bath, powder my nose, or shave my legs before we go through those doors, but the least I can do is wipe the goo off myself as much as possible.”

Smiling broadly, Matthew suddenly reached over and pulled her tight up against his chest, wrapping his arms around her in a large embrace. “There you go,” he said proudly. “Starting to think like a winner in this new world. You’ve got to look for anything that’ll give you an advantage, and anything that’ll give the enemy a weakness. I’m proud of ya. I think it’s the first time I’ve actually seen you think about things ahead of time and try to do anything to prepare.” Still grinning from ear to ear, he leaned back against the wall and kept her wrapped tightly in his arms, enjoying the feel of her bare chest against his thin shirt. Rebecca hesitated a moment, and then slowly leaned forward and rested her head against his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his waist, embracing him back.

Gently stroking his hand up and down her bare back, Matthew laughed lightly. “There’s just one thing though, and I hesitate to bring it up because you were actually thinking ahead…”

When he stopped and didn’t say anything for several moments, Rebecca glanced up and stared him in the eyes. “What? Tell me. If there’s something you know that I don’t, I’d like to hear it.”

“I just don’t think it’s going to matter this time,” Matthew said hesitantly, before he leaned forward and lightly kissed her on the nose.

“Why not?” Rebecca asked puzzled.

“I think the trick is for a dancer to make themselves presentable to their audience,” Matthew said gently. “If we were in deepest Africa, you might wear a big Tiki voodoo mask and paint your body white. In Hawaii, maybe a grass skirt and a wreath of flowers around your neck. In Alaska…” He paused for a moment and then shrugged, before asking, “Do they even dance in Alaska? Damned it I know,” he shrugged slightly. “The point is, I think the bonus and penalty depends on how presentable your audience finds you.”

“I don’t think creatures of the fae have the same view of attractive and unattractive that we do, so I don’t think it’s going to matter with these things,” Matthew told her. “For all I know, they might would’ve even found the muck and slime covered you more attractive and appealing.” Seeing Rebecca frown at his words, he shrugged again and clarified. “Maybe. They might have found it sacrilegious and horrifying, for all I really know about them. The point is, I really don’t know what might give you a bonus or penalty here, but I don’t think shaving your legs and putting on make-up…”

A bright white glow caused him to stop, his words suddenly trailing off lost as the book in front of Jennifer disappeared. The glow enveloped her completely for several moments – almost twice as long as it had for Rebecca – before it finally faded away. Blinking several times, Jennifer hesitantly reached out and swiped at thin air in front of her.

“That’s your health, mana, and stamina gauges you’re seeing,” Matthew told her with a light laugh. “It seems those are always the first thing a person notices once they become a player in the game. They’re not real. You can’t touch them. No one else can see them. They’re just like a little speck of dust that gets stuck at the corner of your eye that you can’t wipe away.”

“This… This is freaky,” Jennifer whispered to no one in particular.

“Did you learn anything?” Matthew asked, as he leaned forward and kissed Rebecca on her forehead one more time before letting go of her. “You’ll want to offer her a party invite,” Matthew told Rebecca.

“I learned some spells.” “How do I do that?” Rebecca and Jennifer both spoke at once, making Matthew laugh lightly as Rebecca pulled away from him. Going over, she lightly pulled Jennifer up and hugged her close.

“What type of spells? All you have to do is say something like ‘party invite Jennifer’.” Grinning widely, Matthew half whistled. “Damn, I could get used to this type of girl-on-girl action!”

“Shut it, asshole.” Snorting lightly, Rebecca finally let go of Jennifer and stepped back to look her up and down. “Party invite Jennifer,” she commanded.

Blinking a few times, Jennifer stared at something that’d just appeared in front of her that only she could see, and then she nodded. “I’ll party.” Frowning a little, she tried again. “I’ll join the party.” Once more, her frown deepened as apparently nothing happened.

“The system seems stupid,” Matthew told her. “Try something very simple like ‘yes’ or ‘I accept’. Think of it like calling one of those idiotic computer help lines.”

“Fine,” Jennifer snorted, and then looked shocked. “Hell, that worked!” Both girls were now staring at something only they could see, making Matthew frown sadly to himself. If only they were higher level…

Sighing deeply, Matthew repeated his question to Jennifer again. “What spells? What’d you learn from the book.”

“Several different things,” Jennifer half answered, distracted by what she was seeing. “Create glass, shape glass, tint glass, harden glass, weaken glass, manipulate glass.”

Blinking, Rebecca looked back startled at Matthew. “I thought you would’ve given her the other book. Or is that one reserved for precious Kristy when you catch up to her,” she teased, the corners of her mouth coming up in a half smirk.

“No, that book isn’t reserved for her,” Matthew snorted. “I wouldn’t give it to anyone who was going to group with us and join us. I couldn’t do someone like that!”

“What book?” Jennifer asked, bending down to try and put her skirt back on. Puzzled, she pulled on it several times but couldn’t seem to get it up past her ankles. “What the hell?”

“Apparently your class can’t wear that type of outfit. Mine can’t either,” Rebecca explained comfortingly to her. “Didn’t asshole warn you about that before he gave you the book?”

“No.” Glaring over at Matthew, Jennifer looked like she wanted to strangle him. “He didn’t. What the hell am I supposed to do for clothes? I can’t run around like this all the time!”

“Until we find the right type of stuff for you to wear, you’ll have to,” Matthew told her, and then whistled lightly as he looked her body up and down. “It’s not a problem though, as I can look all I want. Right?”

“It’s a damn problem,” Jennifer argued. “You might get to look all you want, but I don’t want to be showing everything to the world all the time! And I sure as hell don’t think it’s anyway to dress to fight monsters, run around dangerous places, or interact with the world!”

“Sorry,” Matthew shrugged while grinning and sounding not the least bit sorry. “It is what it is and there’s nothing we can do to change it. You can stand there and bitch over it until it gets dark and the beasties come pouring out of the auditorium and meet us here, or you girls can get the move on and make do with the last few hours before sunset and try and get a jump on them.” Shrugging, he half laughed as he ogled both the girls standing side by side. “It’s up to you. How every you want to do it is fine with me.”

Sighing, Rebecca grabbed Jennifer lightly by the arm and gently tugged her towards the door. “He’s right. There’s nothing we can do about it out here and bitching over it isn’t going to help or change anything. Stay behind me and I’ll do the fighting. Just do whatever you can to support me while keeping yourself safe, and we’ll have to trust asshole to play healer.”

Laughing, Matthew stuck his thumb up and exclaimed, “Healer feeler, that’s me! Don’t worry. I’m not going to let anything happy to my lovely booties!”

Ignoring him, Rebecca turned her back and strode over to yank open the door and go inside. Glancing back, Jennifer gave him a harsh glance that could wither roses, and then she followed behind. Whistling at the pale sight of her rump and bare back, Matthew waited until they were both inside before bending over and gathering her shoes and clothes. With a quick rub of his ring, he tossed them inside the hole that appeared, indulging in his packrat obsession that he’d developed ever since getting it. Another quick rub to shut the hole and keep everything inside it safe, and then he casually strode over and opened the door.

He might be a little behind, he mused, but he didn’t want to let his little behinds get out of sight for long. Whistling merrily to himself, he stepped through the door and into the pitch black auditorium. Instantly the whistle died on his lips and the hair on the back of his arms stood up warningly. Taking his level for granted, he suddenly realized that he’d made a huge mistake.