"I can't believe you're back! Oh my god, it feels like forever - I was honestly wondering sometimes if you would come back." Xenia pauses for a beat as she looks at her old friend, newly arrived in the Fiver's Lounge. "I mean, not that I didn't have total faith in your survival skills! I see your fashion sense hasn't changed at all, though."

Beatrice chuckles and taps her enchanted helmet. "Well, I still need this thing if I want to see and chat to you, yeah? I've picked up a few new tricks, but I still can't talk to ghosts on my own."

"Oh damn, right, almost forgot! Actually, lemme go ahead and burn avatar time on this - you deserve a hug!" With that said Xenia's form shifts from the transparent orange-tinted shape that Beatrice sees from beneath her visor, into her typical black-and-white solid form. Beatrice only just barely has time to remove the now-unnecessary armor though before she's grabbed up in the fiercest embrace Xenia can manage.

"Ha, oof, I've missed you too! and I'm glad to see that you're alright, too." She returns the hug and pats her friend's back for a moment, and eventually the two separate once again. Before they can continue their conversation Xenia gestures towards a nearby booth, and the pair take a seat just in time for Emma to bring them some drinks. It's obvious that the mirror spirit has questions of her own about the returning champion, but seeing that Xenia's intent on not wasting her time, leaves them instead with their refreshments.

Xenia only takes a brief sip before resuming their talk. "So! It's been over a year! That's a hell of an adventure, right? I don't remember any of ours being more than a couple months long, back in the day."

Her friend grins. "Well none of our adventures 'back in the day' involved sailing over an ocean. Twice. Not to mention traveling through the Untamed Reaches isn't easy. It's practically a whole subcontinent out there, and there's no unified government so the roads are crap. A lot of monsters, too. Not that we couldn't take them, but it was just a lot more convenient to travel with the merchant caravans when they went around. ...Not to mention it made it a lot less likely that we'd get lost."

The reincarnator nods along. "Yeah, I can imagine. Oh, and 'we'? I remember you saying you were gonna talk about the trip to your old party, but you were planning to head out alone?"

"Most of them ended up coming along, actually. Not Gemtooth, but the two minotaurs, Janey and Tassa. We made a few friends along the way, too."

Xenia's eyes narrow in thought, not that she needs much help in remembering. "Right, that Tassa. They come back with you? They in town?"

Beatrice shakes her head. "Both of them wanted to head home to revisit their families, after such a long trip. We'll meet back up again in a few months. As for Tassa...I think she does still want to come back here, eventually. Not yet, though. Not that she talked about it much to me."

"Hrmm, well, we'll see about that I suppose." Her eyes widen again and she baps Beatrice on the arm. "But hey, the Quest! Did you finish your quest to find magic or whatever?"

"Hells yeah I did! I'd show you, but...huh, actually..." Beatrice takes a look around at the lounge, and the dancers on shift. "Hells, half the people in here are naked anyhow, I suppose I could take off a layer to show you - if you don't mind."

Xenia leans back with a grin. "Woo, take it off! Show us what you got!"

Beatrice has a bit of an embarrassed grin as she begins removing her traveling garb, but it's not really much of a strip show. Her pants stay on, and the warrior leaves her breast band on before stepping closer to Xenia's side of the table and striking a pose. "Take a look."

The dungeon master does so, peering closer and gently running her fingers along Beatrice's abs. Lines run up her torso, around her shoulders and down her arms, and Xenia would wager that they continue on down her legs as well. The symbols they form remind Xenia slightly of some of the enchanted runes her dungeon products bear, but none of them quite match up with what she's familiar with. She can however sense the power running through them, and through Beatrice herself as well. "Magic ink...looks pretty dang cool, too! I was always more into piercings than ink myself, but you make it work."

"Functional, too." Beatrice begins pointing out some of the symbols on her stomach. "These two here help set me up with this world's mana so I can use it. Got a couple body-booster spells on the way up, and on the hands..." She snaps her right fingers and a tiny flame appears, and then does the same with her left and creates a spark of electricity. "Fire and lightning. Legs have a spell that let me do a dash-teleport type of move, and over my heart?" Beatrice taps the center of her chest. "Well, check it out."

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Xenia leans back just in time to watch her friend turn into a statue, but rather than marble or bronze she turns into a woman made of silver, a shining knight even without her armor on. For a brief moment she's concerned for the health of her friend, but Beatrice is soon moving to strike a new pose...almost naturally. Xenia's fairly certain that her dungeon senses are picking up a slight creaking sound as her friend changes her position. Still, she whistles in appreciation. "Damn, haven't seen anyone else around here with a trick like that! It makes you tougher?"

"Some of the other boosters do make me tougher in general, but the silverform lets me sidestep some types of weaknesses entirely. I can't be blinded, I don't need to breathe, fire and ice do basically nothing to me. It's a constant drain on my magic though, so I can only run it for about five minutes at a time. A useful trick to have up my sleeve, for sure."

"I'll bet. So have you stopped by the Challenger's Association yet? Rubbed it in their faces that you're Supreme-tier quality now?"

The warrior throws her shirt back on and sits down before answering. "Funny you should ask, actually. I did stop by an office when I got back to the continent and they approved my promotion to Master-tier, although I'm still level thirty. I'm now a 'Steelfist Vanguard'. Uh, apparently anyone with a metal transformation gets the 'steel' descriptor, for whatever reason. More common, I guess. Getting up to the Supreme ranks is a different matter, but it's pretty fortunate actually that I ran into Lollyp and Alizz right after I got into town."

Xenia leans forward. "Oh? Hoping Alizz can help you out with the paperwork?"

Beatrice nods. "She did, actually. She can't just immediately push me to Supreme - and you know, fair enough. I have been training with the new skills but I haven't really pushed myself yet. However, she is willing to put me on an expedited track. It's a thing they do sometimes for people who change their classes in a major way, after recovering from an injury or inheriting a new weapon they want to base their skills around, or whatever. So I've still gotta do some basic Challenger shit, but a hell of a lot less of it than a normal Master would. In fact, I'm already working to claim some credit for the monsters I slew while I was in the Reaches."

"Basic Challenger shit, eh? So taking on dungeons mostly, I suppose?"

Her friend nods again. "Yup! So I was actually hoping I could do some runs here, now that I'm back. I'll probably need to find a local team to join - I'm not bull-headed enough to assume I can solo your new floors, especially with what Lollyp was telling me before I came up here."

Xenia's response is a little more muted than Beatrice may have been expecting. "You, uh...sure you wanna earn your credit here?"

The monster slayer furrows her brow. "Yeah? It seemed obvious...is there something wrong?"

"Well..." Xenia sighs. "It's just, you're right about my new floors being pretty damn tough. And I can't go easy on you or else the Association won't give you much credit - I know they do like, audits with truth spells or whatever sometimes, right? But...I mean, if I slipped up and actually killed you I don't know what I'd do with myself."

Beatrice gives her friend a soft smile. "Ah, I get it. But even if it happens...no hard feelings, right? I know the risks. But how about this? If I fuck up and you kill me, you can have my soul. I'm not eager enough for the gig to volunteer for it, but if it happens, it happens, right? Here, I'll say it officially - if I die in this dungeon, I bequeath my soul to Xenia Worthy."

The reincarnator shakes her head. "Doesn't work like that. You have to surrender to the dungeon for it to count, and that means surrender. You can't go in and dive into a floor and fight for your life, and then be like 'hey, I was surrendering that entire time!' Doesn't work. If the fighting's stopped and you're bleeding out and you have time enough to say it, sure. But if something gets you by surprise or you're knocked unconscious..." Xenia looks away. "Too bad, so sad, no eternity as a dungeon monster for you."

Beatrice takes a moment to consider that. "...I suppose that makes sense. Ah, well. Guess I'll just have to play it cautious, right? I mean, I'm gonna be dungeon-diving somewhere. And if a dungeon is gonna get me, it might as well be you. At least you'd get something out of it, right?"

"Yeah...and maybe Opal and Theolif might want...bleh, I hate thinking about this. Get yourself a team, but first, get some rest and relaxation! You've traveled across two damn continents and an ocean, girl! Take a break, catch up on things!" She shoots Beatrice a smirk. "You know, the Dungeon Fuckers are back in town. They're actually living out of the new Church of Bounty compound or whatever, since they've signed up or something."

"Ha, looking to repeat the party we had before we left, huh?" Beatrice laughs before looking thoughtful. "...Actually, if I remember right, those three were pretty experienced, right? You know what level they're at?"

"...Got to Master this year, I think. You actually looking to team up with them for real?" Xenia gives her friend a look. "I mean, they're actually good at what they do...but they are the Dungeon Fuckers. You sure you want the reputation of joining up with them?"

"Hey, I know how to cut loose, and you know it! And I know I might act like a glory hound sometimes, but I'm not actually in this for the glory, you know?" Beatice waves a hand in front of her scarred face. "If I ever gave much of a shit about what people thought about me, I grew out of it years ago. I'm in this for the good fights, and to be the best damn slayer there is. And what kind of adventurer would I be if I couldn't even take on the toughest challenges of a friendly dungeon?"

"Hey, it's your life." Xenia chuckles, and then freezes. "...Oh, right. There's sort of a big thing that happened that you should probably be updated on."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Well, my great-great-whatever grandkid showed up this year after tracking me down through the realms...and, uh, I think at some point he kind of broke into your old house and stole some of your shit?"

"...What."

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