PART III - KEEPING SCORE

Callie raced home to Ogre House, almost causing the door to smash against the wall as she rushed in, slamming it closed behind her. Scrambling for the basket under Lena's bed, she tossed it up on her own and flipped the lid open with one hand while her other was already untucking the pressed shirt she'd worn for dinner. She'd gone over in her head the sequence of steps needed to most-efficiently get quickly changed, the grin on her face wide. She was excited to surprise Pixyl with the new outfit; probably a lot of other people, too. Beyond excited, even. Giddy?

The new outfit itself was fairly simple, and Callie quickly stripped down, pulling the lacy and perfectly-fitting panties on before dropping the dress roughly over her head. It was snug and form fitting, and definitely followed her curves, just like she'd asked for. She grabbed the other small pieces and moved over to the mirror, which incidentally had been replaced sometime in the last couple days after being deeply dented by Vanis's fist. Grabbing the booster to actually be able to see, Callie stepped up, fiddling with the dress straps a bit and then adjusting up and in, adding some 'squish' in order to summon up a little cleavage.

Earrings came next, sliding into her newly-pierced ears, now healed as if the holes had been there for years. They dangled a little, the pretty blue stones that matched her bracelet jiggling a bit as she moved her head. Next was the flower-adorned choker necklace, which hooked in the back.

Callie stepped down momentarily to retrieve a brush and two lengths of ribbon from her footlocker to re-tie her pigtails. She had collected several different colors over the last few weeks, and chose two black ones to match the rest of her outfit. The color would also contrast nicely against her pink hair in the dimmed light of the tent, and match the little poof of netting that she lastly pinned into place, making her as fashionable as most of the visiting ladies.

All-in-all, it only took a few minutes to change her look, and she was almost feeling a little like she was ready to go out clubbing with her friends like back in college. She spun in front of the mirror a couple times, trying to see if anything grabbed her attention as looking out of sorts. In a perfect world, she'd have a little bit of glitter in her hair and on her face to offset against the club light, but otherwise everything was exactly how she had hoped it would be.

"You've got this, girl," Callie said, holding the gaze with herself in the mirror, the self-affirmation giving her a little bit of strength against the nervous knot in her belly. Suddenly, she couldn't help but laugh. Originally, she had explained to Xin that the purpose of the dress was to 'entice' Pixyl to mate. She'd actually just gotten some action, so that goal was already taken care of! Well, there was always a chance for another go at it.

Callie hopped down, stowing the booster back where it was normally kept on standby, before sliding on the new black shoes and buckling them tight, chuckling again at how Zyxengrisc had insisted there would be 'No shoes!', only to apparently relent that the outfit required them. She bounced a couple times on her toes just to settle everything into place, pulled a little more cleavage into existence before taking a cleansing breath, and set out to head back to the big tent.

The first thing that happened as Callie walked out was she came face-to-face with Melga and Wallir. Both were shocked to see the excited Gnome, and then Wallir was shocked a second time as Melga elbowed him in response to the low whistle the Elf had instinctively let fly. Normally, Callie was annoyed by catcalls, but in this case, it just increased her grin. She'd happily admit there was a little attention-seeking going on, and getting that response from a friend felt nice.

Glaring slightly up at her Midsummer date, who was wincing and rubbing his side, Melga said, "Where did you get that dress? It's very black but … wow!"

"I decided I wanted to be pretty for the dance," Callie said, beaming. "I figured it couldn't hurt to go to the tannery and ask Fullo and her people if they'd make something. The worst they would say is no, and the Brownies said they would!" Callie spun in a pirouette to show off the outfit, the knee-length dress billowing out slightly as her pigtails did the same.

"Wow! I didn't even think to do that! I am quite jealous, actually."

"This is all a surprise for Pixyl. She has no idea. Are you heading up there? Want to join me?"

The Druid couple nodded and the three started towards the training grounds. Apparently they'd ducked away much as Callie and Pixyl had done after dinner, but instead hung a sock on Wallir's door for some pre-dance private time. Melga had never really been part of Callie's close group of friends for some reason, but in this immediate moment, Callie and the Dwarf seemed to bond as if besties, the latter getting almost as excited as the former for the surprise to come. Poor Wallir found himself following along obediently, apparently the sudden third wheel to the two gossiping girls. This became even more the case when Fynisse spotted the three of them, and came bounding over with Dunni to join the little parade. Dunni looked up forlornly in understanding at Wallir as he was immediately demoted to 'tag along' status.

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"I can't believe the change that makes," Fynisse squealed. "It's so form-fitting! And you've got a figure now!"

"Uh-huh," Callie nodded, spinning again to show off for the newcomer as she grinned. "The Brownies took it as a challenge," she added, cupping her larger-appearing chest with both hands.

"I didn't even think about asking for any fancy clothing," the Catkin sighed. "I would have liked a pretty dress, too, although not so black."

Callie didn't want to rub in the fact that she had scored something nice to wear, so simply replied with "You look great, though," She then nodded to Melga. "You, too."

As they passed the recruit mess tent where people were still playing table games, Callie got another catcall, this time from one of the Dwarf recruits that she didn't know except by sight, probably one of the Barbarians. Melga shot him a harsh glare for being so crass, though. "Sorry about him. You know, immature boys," Melga said, sighing and rolling her eyes in apology and explanation.

Callie decided then and there she was going to keep score, just for giggles, and added a second point to the catcall total. If this had been back on Earth, she'd actually be really annoyed by them or might even get into the jerk's face. For some reason, though, here it felt like everyone was her friend in some way, or at least an acquaintance, and she found herself feeling the whistles were almost more of a compliment. As long as nobody got creepy about it, that was the way she was going to play it. Compliments from friends. If they got creepy about it, then they'd get an earful.

Cresting the top of the hill, they came into sight of the big tent. The music had pepped up a little bit, and there was some cheering and rhythmic clapping coming from inside, the instruments joined by what sounded a little like a banjo. "The music's a little better, at least," Callie said. Turning to the other girls, she asked, "Everything looks good?"

Fynisse and Melga both nodded enthusiastically, while the guys behind them nodded with a little more reluctance. Wallir instinctively moved to protect himself from another of Melga's elbows, on the chance he was a little too complimentary.

Brushing some nonexistent dirt off her front, Callie took a deep breath and walked forward. Her tummy was full of butterflies, worried that Pixyl wouldn't like the look, for some reason. Most of Callie knew her girlfriend would love it, but a tiny part still was feeling panicky and just wouldn't settle down. "Remember, be sexyful," Callie said to herself, echoing the Brownie tailor's word as she walked into the big tent. She added a little swagger to her hips to help.

Vanis was still at the table, as was Pixyl, but Juniper apparently had wandered off, as had Lena. Now joining the table was Major Celeste and Trainer Olin. The two had, as Callie suspected would happen, paired up together for Midsummer. They actually looked quite happy, the Major bumping her shoulder into Olin's, and laughing in response to something that had been said. But, just as Callie took two steps forward, she screeched to a halt when Arkan Pelidri stepped up, clasping wrists with Vanis in greeting. Being ever gracious, Vanis, of course, couldn't help but extend an invitation for the visiting officer to join them.

"Well … shit," Callie whispered to herself. She was nervous enough with people she knew being around when Pixyl finally saw her. Adding the Arkan somehow made it ten times worse. "Still," she continued arguing to herself, "he was married to a Gnome at one point. Maybe he'll just think you're Gnome-weird and leave it at that."

It was Vanis that saw Callie first, his eyes going wide for just a moment, before he worked to get his expression back under control. He'd known about the new outfit, having come by to order his mourning sash while Callie was being originally fitted and seeing the drawings being used as a guide. His friend wearing it, though, was quite the shock, and he struggled to not spoil the surprise. Still, it was enough of a reaction that the Major caught it, and she turned her head, Olin following her gaze.

"My stars!" Celeste gasped, which in turn got Pelidri's attention and caused Pixyl to turn around to look in the same direction.

Unlike in the movies, there wasn't the sudden sound of a record scratching as the music and everything else went silent. No sudden loud gasps and murmurs from onlookers. To Callie though, the world still went silent as her eyes locked with Pixyl's, shrinking until it was just the two of them. Nervously, she tried to smile.

"Callie?!" the Major exclaimed, her tone seeming somewhere between surprise and scolding, mixed perhaps with a little bit of disbelief. Callie ignored her, focusing on Pixyl's expression.

"C-C-Callie?" Pixyl said, echoing the Major's surprise, also unable to believe what she was seeing.

"Hi," Callie said in return, hesitantly raising one hand to wave.

"What is this?" Pixyl added. She tilted her head in confusion as she stepped down from the booster, taking another step forward.

"F-For you," Callie stammered slightly. Then, feeling like she needed to explain further, added, "I wanted to be pretty … for you."

"But you are always pretty," Pixyl replied, as if confused that it would ever be something in question. Then she launched herself forward and slightly into the air, crashing into Callie and wrapping her arms around her neck and legs around her waist. Pixyl planted her lips hard, wings humming in happiness. Around them, there were a few more catcalls as other recruits caught sight of the spectacle. Callie was too distracted to count them individually, but decided to give herself a solid four more points for the lot as she returned the passionate kiss.

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