I take my seat and wait patiently for Jody to walk up to the altar in that beautiful white dress of his. This is my sixth day coming to these things before work. I’ve decided that getting to hear Jody’s beautiful voice, and see his lovely hair & petit frame is the best part of this. Ulfoa then comes out the back door holding the massive metal plate and Jody is following close behind her. Oh, Jody… you’re so adorable…

“Alright everybody, I think pretty much everyone’s here already.” He says as he walks up to the altar. 

“Let’s begin right away with the mass offering, shall we? You don’t have to give, but Kári will surely appreciate it.” Everybody gets up to give their offerings, including me. I’ve heard from Lucidna that Kári loved all sorts of art, so anything I draw could be considered an offering. Not wanting to be left out, I’ve started making a drawing in the morning for the mass offering everyday.

I’ve been buying the paper from the figment library with my paycheck. It doesn’t cost much at all, so I think I can get away with not telling Aubrey about it. I also borrowed some pencils from the temple. I was super nervous about asking, but they were more than happy to give me a bunch for free. The mass offering ends quickly, and everyone returns to their seats. 

“Alright everyone, now that the mass gathering is done, it’s time for me to sing my praises to the Archon of Wind. Ulfoa, my harp.” Ulfoa, who was standing next to him, hands him the harp. 

“I apologize, but this one is going to be quite a sad one. It will be about Kári’s reaction the The Archon of Frost, Beira’s murder by the hands of the Archenemy Michael. I’m not sure if any of you are also members of Beira’s cult, but I’ll try to remain as sensitive to her regretful death as I can.”

He wasn’t lying when he said this song would be sadder than the others. It starts off and stays very slow. I’m not very musically inclined, but I can tell it’s in a minor key. He’s probably going for a good 7 minutes. At the climax, it sounds as if he’s playing two or three instruments at once. You can also hear the sheer grief in his voice. It doesn’t sound like he’s singing about events eight centuries ago at all, it sounds more like he’s singing about the death of a close friend. He’s even crying, but this doesn’t hamper his performance in any way. The song ends slowly, as Jody hums… He then wipes the tears out from his eyes. 

“Ah ha~ sorry about that. I saw a really captivating painting of Beira’s death and I just had to sing about it. Sorry for upsetting all of you like that.” Don’t say that sort of thing, the song was amazing. 

“Alright, I’ll get out the food, you mingle with each other.” Jody and Ulfoa then leave.

“Wow, I didn’t know he could sing a song like that.” The woman sitting next to me says. Her name is April, she’s the woman who first complimented me on my art my first time here. I’ve actually spent enough time here to befriend her, surprising, I know.

Two more people join in on the conversation. 

“Yeah, I thought he could only sing the kind of stuff that makes you want to move. That honestly just made me want to cry.” 

“There’s also… the fact he was inspired by a painting… That means he made the song… he wasn’t singing something already written.” 

The two people joining in are Spring’s friends, who I’ve also managed to get along with during my time here. They’re Sienna & Aliya respectively.

Sienna’s a tad bit taller than me. She’s thin, and her boobs are only slightly smaller than mine. Her hair’s black, although not as much as mine, and cut short to just above her shoulders. Her eyes are also black. 

Aliya’s shorter than me, just short enough to shove her face in between my boobs without having to bend down. Her hair’s a dark red, which she combs down to cover her right eye. She’s completely flat. I was theorizing that she was actually a boy, but April & Sienna referred to her with “she” and “her”. Hoping she was a boy was purely because of a fetish of mine, so I guess it’s also disgusting that I was disappointed when I kind of figured she was a girl.

“Yeah, it was amazing. I loved the way he cried during it. And the way he moved his body around. I honestly couldn’t look away.” I say, trying to add my input to the discussion. 

“Yeah, it really felt like he was really upset about what happened.” April says. 

“Yeah, he’s such a good actor, I wonder how much he’s had to practice to get that good.” I say. 

“He’s the son of Kara Graham, isn’t he? He’s probably been practicing since he was a little kid.” Sienna adds.

I’m not quite sure who Kara Graham is, but she sounds like someone I would really know if I wasn’t an otherworlder, so I don’t want to embarrass myself by asking. We sit there for a bit before Jody & Ulfoa come back with food and art stuff. 

“We’re back!” He says.

><><><><

Jody’s sitting down at the lower chairs instead of the altar, and eating along with us. He’s randomly plucking at his harp and writing something down on a piece of paper. He has his legs crossed like a woman. The white dress he’s wearing leaves his shaved legs exposed. The creases in his dress also expose the shapes of his thighs. Suddenly, Ulfoa walks up in front of him and starts having a conversation with him, blocking my view. Ugh, get out of the way!

“Wow, you’re really interested in Jody, aren’t you, Azariah?” Suddenly, April catches me staring. All of my body suddenly seizes up in stress as I desperately try to come up with an excuse. 

“Oh, no I wasn’t staring at his beautiful legs, I was just staring at the wall! The window looks really nice!” What the hell was that excuse?! What’s wrong with me?!

“Um, sure.” 

I really shouldn’t be making excuses anyway. I’m staring at Jody purely out of lust, which is inexcusable. I should really just apologize instead. “I’m sorry, I can just be really disgu-”

“You’re crushing on Jody, Azariah.” Sienna interrupts me. 

“N- no! I’m not crushing on him… He’s just so pretty, cute, his voice is beautiful, I love the way he dresses, I love his hair, I love how he has to clarify he’s a boy-” 

“OK, we get it, you’re crushing on him.” 

“I… I’m seriously not, though…”

“It’s OK… you don’t have… to hide it…” Even Aliya joins in, and she hardly ever speaks. I’m seriously not crushing on him though, I just love his body… and his voice… and his hair… and his dress… 

“Yeah, I’m not really sure Jody would be a good man to go after though.” Sienna adds. Uh, why is that? 

“Azariah seems… really captivated… by him, though…” 

“Yeah, Sierra, your personal feelings aside, Azariah should really get to know Jody herself before she decides not to go after him.” I seriously feel like we’re skipping something important. Why is Jody a bad person to pursue?

“If you’re… nervous… we’ll help… talk to him…” Oh no, they’re trying to set me up with Jody. If you told me just a week ago I’d have three female friends all trying to set me up with a cute boy, I would be over the moon, but now that it’s actually happening I’m getting riddled with anxiety. 

“I mean… but… what about Ulfoa?” I say, desperately trying to make an excuse to not be introduced to Jody. I don’t think the two of them have that kind of relationship, but it might help me get out of this.

“Ulfoa’s just his assistant. Nothing you need to worry about there.” April says, quickly killing all my hopes. 

“Well, I mean-” Sierra starts 

“Nope, we’re letting Azariah form her own opinion of Jody, remember?” 

“Yeah, alright.” 

“So Azariah, you want to go and ask him out?” Huh?! You’re asking me to go ask him out on a date?! How did we get here?! This is going way too quickly!

“You’re… stressing her… out, April.” 

“Yeah, you are pretty shy, aren’t you? How about this, you come with me, I introduce you, and we figure out a place we can all go together, sound alright?” That does sound pretty nice… I would like to hear Jody’s voice more. 

“O- OK… I probably won’t say much, though…” 

“That’s fine, come on.” April quickly drags me over to Jody. Oh God, I’m about to be involved in a conversation with him, this is really stressing me out.

We only have to walk from one side of the temple to the other, so it isn’t very long before we reach Jody. “Uh, hey, Jody? Can I talk to you for a second?” 

“Of course, what is it?” Jody quickly looks up from his work. Looking at it, he was writing sheet music. 

“Yeah, my friend here wanted to get to know you better, so she was just wondering if you would be free to hang out with us sometime in the future.”

“Hm? Just the two of you?” 

“There’ll be two more of us, is that fine?” 

“Two more women?” 

“Yeah, Sierra and another you wouldn’t recognize.” 

“So this newcomer just wants to get to know me? In what way?” April looks at me, silent. Aargh! How dare you put me on the spot like this?! 

“Um… I just thought you were really cute, and I love your voice… um, uh, I want to know how you sing so well…” I stammered the hell out of that, but I think I got some sort of general point across.

“Oh, well, I see.” He seems… kind of disappointed by that answer. 

“Well, that’s fine, I’m always up to meeting new people. How does the Heafdes Local Art Museum sound?” 

“Heafdes Local Art Museum?” 

“The largest art museum open to the public in Heafdes. It actually has a ton of paintings and stuff that Kári himself made. It’ll be fun.” He’s right, that does sound fun.

“My job, though…” 

“Hm? What about your job?” Jody asks. 

“I work 12 hours a day, everyday. I’m not sure when to find the time…” 

“Huh? You’re quite a hard worker, aren’t you? You can ask for a day off, your boss will be that lenient, right?” It isn’t that easy- wait, actually it probably is that easy. If I just ask Lucidna for a day off, she’ll probably give it to me, as long as I promise to keep studying. I could also tell her that what I’m doing that day would help motivate me to study harder. I’m probably not even lying about that.

“I’ll ask her… I’ll tell you tomorrow when I’m free.” 

“Alright, that’s fine. Any time next week is fine. I’ll be able to move my schedule around for you guys.” Hah… I’m actually going to be going to an art museum… that sounds really fun honestly. Not only am I going to be going to an art museum, I’m going to be going with my friends and a cute boy… Ah, this is a dream come true… I never could have imagined something like this just a few weeks ago.

><><><><

Waiting is kind of stressful. The art museum is yet another large building in this huge city. It’s built on a hill, and it’s 3 stories tall. One story is on the bottom of the hill and two stories are on top of the hill. I’m waiting by the entrance on the top of the hill. I’m here alone, waiting for everyone else to get here. April, Sierra, and Aliya still aren't here. Neither are Jody or Ulfoa. Ulfoa decided she was coming too, by the way.

“Hey Azariah, you’re here early.” As I’m freaking out about the possibility of them not showing up I hear Jody’s beautiful voice. Looking over to the source, Jody and Ulfoa are walking towards me. Jody’s wearing a dress other than the white one he always wears to Kári’s temple. It’s a green dress with huge sleeves. The dress comes down to the floor, meaning his legs aren’t exposed, which is really disappointing. On the plus side, his shoulders are exposed, and there’s a diamond shaped hole, exposing his chest area. The cloth from the sleeves wraps around his neck which I think looks really cool.

Ulfoa’s wearing something slightly more revealing. She’s also wearing a dress, but it covers her shoulder and entire chest. The dress part only covers the front and back, leaving her thighs and the rest of her legs exposed. Thighs are nice, but I definitely prefer chests, so I have to say I prefer Jody’s. Ulfoa’s dress is also yellow, and I think that’s just too much yellow. Ulfoa is wearing flowers in her hair though, which I think is really cute. I’m more disappointed that Jody isn’t also wearing flowers in his hair, though.

“Hmm, I like your robes, Azariah. I haven’t seen you in anything that wasn’t black.”  Jody says. I’m currently wearing a dark blue, thin fantasy looking robe. I had bought it just for this occasion.  I wanted to buy something different from the black stuff I always wore to Kári’s temple, but lighter colors just aren’t my thing, especially with my new appearance. I thought that dark blue would be fine since Kári’s associated with blue, even if it’s a much lighter shade than this.

“So, where’s April and Sierra? Oh, and, um… Aliya, right?” Jody says 

"Yes, her name is Aliya.” I respond. 

“Ah, I’m glad I could get another follower of Kári’s name right. Back to my original question, they aren’t here with you, are they?” 

“No, they aren’t, sorry.” 

“Don’t worry about it, we’re all here rather early anyway. They aren’t necessarily late.”

Jody and I chat for a bit, while we wait for the others to show up. In the time leading up to this day, speaking to him doesn’t cause any anxiety to well up inside me at all. I got kind of somewhat close with Kiaran, but now I’m actually having a casual conversation with a cute femboy. Ah~ it’s a dream come true…

Ulfoa is still rather distant, though. She doesn’t talk much to anybody that isn’t Jody which makes me really nervous. Jody’s told me that’s just how she is and not to worry about her, though. They seem kind of close actually. Not as significant others, but as siblings. They don’t look very similar though and apparently Jody’s family is kind of a big deal in Kári’s cult while Ulfoa’s isn’t, so that probably isn’t the case genetically.

We’re speaking for a while about some of the stuff we could find in the museum, and Ulfoa only butts in a few times during the entire thing. We’re doing this for a while before we finally hear some more people approaching us. 

“Hey Azariah! How long were you three waiting out here?” April says from further down the hill, followed by Sierra, who is in turn followed by Aliya.

April’s attire hasn’t changed all that much from what she usually wears. Sierra and Aliya are both dressed up though. Man, I’m really glad I bought something to wear…

Sierra’s dress up in a black and white dress that comes down to the floor. It leaves her arms exposed. Captivating and edgy is my first impression. Aliya’s dressed in white and light blue robes. She’s wearing a white veil over her head, and a large blue bow on the back of her head. Elegant & cute is my first impression.

Argh! Why do my friends have to have such great clothes?! It just makes what I’m wearing look pathetic in comparison! It’s honestly really embarrassing to be underdressed like this, and I can’t handle that sort of feeling… At least April’s dressed normally…

“So, now that everyone’s here, shall we get going?” Jody says. At that, everyone gives their own forms of agreement before we’re on our way. 

“In the pursuit of art and wonder, man and woman must fly forward so quickly their fears and anxieties may not catch up!” Jody says, as if quoting a text. I think I heard Lucidna say a quote of Kári’s that sounded similar…