"So what's the Lusty part of your css name mean?," Erika said a few hours ter as the five stood in a clearing about a mile from Persistence. "Up until now you've just been using pretty standard fighter tactics. And you," she turned and pointed at Alice, "seem to have an unnatural amount of healing you're able to put out, I can't quite pce my finger on it, but otherwise what, you're just a surplus heal-bot? The two pointy ears, I get. He's a straight-up killer with the spells, and she's a ghost in the woods and a fantastic ambush fighter. You two seem weak in comparison."

  Colin sighed, expining, "They're actually not using all of their skills right now. They're every bit as powerful or more so than me or D, you're just only seeing about half of what they can do."

  "Huh? Why?," Erika spun and pointed an angry finger at Bridgette. "This whole probationary period works both directions, Red. If you want me to prove my pce, you've got to be honest with me. I want to know what I'm getting myself into. You can't keep secrets."

  "Deal with it, Pink," Alice snapped as she summoned a chair and sat down, crossing her legs primly as she did. "Or feel free to leave. You won't see me crying."

  "Uhm," Bridgette said, pced in the uncomfortable and unusual position of peacemaker yet again, "You're not wrong, though. The Lusty part kicks in as a sort of rage ability, Colin expined it to me once. It makes me stronger, faster, able to deal more damage - and take more - in critical parts of the fight. It just isn't something that I like busting out in polite company, as it's a bit ... extreme."

  "Oh, I used to py all of those role pying games," Erika said excitedly, "And some other role pying games behind locked doors, but maybe that's a different conversation. I know all about barbarian rage. But ... Lusty? Deets, Red. I want the deets."

  Bridgette gnced at Alice who was pretending to ignore the conversation, then over at Colin and Deirdre who both shrugged. Then she gnced at the pink-haired witch standing there with an expression of curiosity and annoyance on her face. The redhead sighed, pinching her nose as if the thought caused her physical pain.

  "To put this into terms you might understand, as Alice and Colin have expined to me, I undergo a Magical Girl Transformation by being stripped naked and then gang-raped by a tentacle monster when I engage my css's rage ability. Which is why I'm not using it right now. Although I guess raped isn't technically right, since it's consenting, I do actively trigger the ability knowing what is about to happen. I just don't know what better way to phrase it that gets the point across. Then I fight the rest of the battle naked and dripping with tentacle monster cum from all of my holes."

  Erika's jaw dropped open, an expression of absolute wonder on her face. "Holy shit, really? That's so fucking cool. And hot. Uhm, wow. I, uh, I mean that sounds terrible," she said as her tone indicated the exact opposite feeling. "Terrible. I'm so sorry you have to undergo that experience. I can see why you might only want to do it in the most dire of circumstances. I should definitely study this to find ways to make it less terrible for you."

  "Yea, whatever," Bridgette said, waving away the drooling witch. "I'm not doing it now, so don't get your panties in a twist."

  "Can't get 'em twisted if you never wear 'em," Erika shot back with a leer. Alice groaned again from the side, making her presence known. The elves had retreated to the side of the clearing, talking between themselves and trying to ignore the umpteenth iteration of the ongoing bickering between Alice and Erika.

  "So what can you do?," Alice said with a nasty tone of voice, "Besides hit on people's girlfriends and look like a slut? You talk a big game about being a witch, but I've yet to see anything other than a little wand."

  "Me look like a slut?," Erika shot back, spinning on the healer. "Your dress is an incitement to riot, and it's pretty fucking obvious you don't have panties on either with how high it's slit up the thigh. And your girlfriend is no better, prancing around in a knock-off warrior princess costume crossed with a fetish lingerie shop. At least I own it and don't pretend to be a prude."

  "I don't pretend to be a prude," Alice countered, standing and dismissing her chair. "I am very aware and confident of my sexuality. I just don't go running around trying to rub my clit on everything with a pulse, especially if they're already taken."

  "Look, dy," Erika said, getting up in Alice's face and waving a finger at her. "You rub yourself your way, I'll rub myself my way, but back the fuck off with your morals before you get that pretty little face of yours broken. We're both chosen of Aphrodite, and Fi likes to fuck. I'm just honoring her wishes."

  "You wouldn't know the first thing about Fi's wishes from what I hear," Alice snarked back. "You and your stupid fuck-your-way-through-life-without-caring attitude. Maybe your kitsune friend would have been alive if you focused on being a better witch instead of just a bitch."

  With a primal scream, Erika tackled Alice, knocking the busy healer to the ground and nding on top of her. The enraged witch grabbed a handful of Alice's hair and punched her hard in the face. Alice screamed, eyes fshing pink as she tried to sh out, breaking Erika's grip and summoning a spectral club floating nearby. It swung, knocking into Erika and propelling the witch off Alice as she ducked into a roll and came up to one knee, drawing her wand as she did.

  "It's on now, you fucking bitch," Erika hissed. "Me and you. Keep your girlfriend out of it."

  "I don't need your help to kick your scrawny ass," Alice scoffed. "I'm more than woman enough for you." Bridgette backed away, covering her face in horror as the argument between the women went magical and violent in nature. Colin and Deirdre were standing on the edge of the clearing and Bridgette trotted over to join them, shaking her head in dismay as she did.

  "This is bad," Deirdre said quietly to Bridgette, gncing between the two women screaming at one another.

  "I mean, it could be good for them to get over it," Colin said. Both Deirdre and Bridgette turned and started at him, disbelieving. The wizard shrugged. "Okay, maybe it's bad. Why are we letting it happen?"

  Bridgette sighed, gncing back at the clearing. "Okay, it could be good. They're both very strong-willed and stubborn women who are chosen by the same goddess. I think they just need to figure out who the boss bitch is."

  Deirdre nodded sagely, "Determining the alpha bitch of the pack, yes."

  "Don't I count?," Bridgette asked, pretending to be hurt by the implication. Deirdre shook her head in the negative, clearly dismissive.

  "You are her protector, and you love her, but it's obvious she rules your pack. Now we see if she adds one more."

  "What do you mean adds one more?," Colin asked with a confused expression on his face as he gnced between the two women.

  "Never mind," the women replied in unison.