These Chains I Wear (Reaperbones/Sallin_Kari)

[Reaperbones]

Kira laughed at Lara's reactions. She held the tape up and dangled it by the foot marker. "This is about how big Alex is. I know this because Alex and I have a special relationship. you should be thankful for it as it's getting you a special appointment with one of the greatest seamstresses in this city. Now raise your arms."
Kira waited for Lara to raise her arms before wrapping the tape around her chest. She pulled it tight around her breasts before letting it loosen slowly. She spoke once she found the golden measurement for a bra. "Courtship is a lot different here. We're not as formal per se. Not to say we're loose and easy or anything. Hell it took five shots and a year of knowing Alex before I dragged him to bed. I don't regret starting this odd friendship. Maybe you'll get to try him in the bedroom sometime. I recommend stretching yourself before trying though. How much support do you like your bras to have?"

[Sallin_Kari]

I pause for a moment at her pointing out how long Alex's penis is, trying to figure out how large that is suppose to be... but without any reference I can only accept her assessment of it.

Pondering what a less formal courtship would be like, I flatly reject her suggestion, before answering her question, "I think I rather not, if it is all the same to you. As for the bra... I don't know."

[Reaperbones]

Kira was unamused by Lara's lack of reaction to Alex's prospective penis size. She listened to the girl and spoke and she dragged her fingers across the girl's back to trace where she'd put the straps. "Honey if your haven't tried masterbation then you should definitely start soon. It's fantastic. As for the bra tightness..."
She firmly grasped Lara's bosom. She squeezed and release her boobs as she spoke. "How tight do you like it? This tight or this tight?"

[Sallin_Kari]

A shiver runs up my spine as she traces something out on my back. As soon as I was about to respond, her sudden action extracts a yelp from me, and feeling the scales and talons press up against my skin, a drop of fear creeps in. I throw myself back against her and more importantly, away from the talons, drop to my knees before quickly leaping forward, out of range, turning to face her as I land. I grip my chest as I feel my heart racing, letting out a couple of breaths before replying, "Sorry, you startled me... I uh... I prefer it looser."

[Reaperbones]

Kira felt a soft squish in her hands, and then a heavy force against her chest. She let out a gasp as the breath was stolen from her chest. She looked at the Elf who had gone into fight mode and felt a good bit hurt. She took a breath and spoke. "It's fine. Loose it is."
She decided to test something as she out the measuring tape away. She spread her wings to their full length and spoke as she walked towards Lara. "You know I'm often told that I'm beautiful. They say my wings shine like melted gold in the sun."
She pulled her dress up to reveal her taloned feet and continued her speech. "My legs are strong yet slim and have talons which shine like onyx gems."
She finished closing the distance and held out her arms. "The scales on my arm are smooth and glow like my wings."
She then looked her straight in the eyes, revealing the silver dragon eyes. "Top it all off with eyes like polished silver and you get a beauty who is proud to say she has won a competition or two. But I wonder, do you think I'm beautiful?"

[Sallin_Kari]

She's provoking me deliberate. I wasn't sure why exactly, but she clearly wants to aggravate my displeasure at her draconic form by showing off every single one of those features. All the years of practicing self-defense kicked in, as my knees started to buckled and my head drooped down a bit. This had two benefits, one being that by looking smaller and scared the opponent typically underestimated me, and two it allowed me to duck or dodge much faster than from a relaxed pose, getting behind them for an attack which when combined with one was usually before they even realized I was gone. I could tell my expression revealed an unease, this time all natural, in particular when she decided to show off her talons as I felt a cold sweat come on. "Not by elven standards to be sure, but then again, I doubt I'd match your people's standards of conventional beauty either, so a bit of pointless question don't you think," I reply with a clearly forced neutrality of tone.

[Reaperbones]

Kira watched Lara go defensive and scoffed when she claimed that the question was pointless. She stepped back and let her wings drop back down to a relaxed position. After giving Lara some breathing room she spoke. "Your hair is a lovely shade of purple, almost like amethyst. You skin is pale like the moon and makes me think of a porcelain doll. Your body is slim and flexible, but toned with powerful muscles. Your eyes have a fierceness to them that would make men and women tremble with excitement. Will this beauty strike my heart or my body. Should I fear her or idolize her. Is she a princess or a warrior. Your beauty is fierce and obvious. You claim the question is pointless, but that is only because you can't see past your so call Elven conventional standards of beauty."
Kira walked back to her bag and began pulling out long pieces of spider silk. She looked back over her shoulder and spoke with a hurt voice. "I know why you see me as a monster. It's because you've been raised to hate us, but I wonder if you can look past your upbringing and see more. If you wish to get dressed then you may, I am done with my measurements. I will begin making your clothing."

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Oh and btw, Kira's bag is in fact an extra-dimensional space lol.

[Sallin_Kari]

I had to admit that my concept of beauty, at least of people, was lacking. Courtship always seemed so foreign to my life that the concept of actually judging physical beauty seemed quaint at best. Even my statement wasn't made out of any sort of judgement of her appearance, being far to focused on the claws to consider that, and more of an attempt to dodge the question, which seemed to be successful?
"Easy for you to say, with knives for fingers. I had to grow up with a person whom bears the scars of what those things can do," I retort, re-equipping the loose human clothing, finding the belt far easier to operate now I know what it wants, before I add, "Imagine I always held knives in my hands and when I put my hand on your shoulder, the blade brushed your neck. How comfortable would you be?"

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The bag of holding warehouse must have had a sale considering she's not the first.

[Reaperbones]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

If you ever look at D&D you find out that bags of holding are very common.

Kira grew curious about Lara's statement. Somebody who bore the scars of what her claws could do? She must know someone who survived a fight with a dragon. She spoke as she began marking off segments of silk. "If my claws make you so uncomfortable then why didn't you flinch when I touched you earlier? And it wasn't your neck that I put them to. It was that ample bosom of yours. Look I don't expect you to stop being afraid of my appearance, but please at least be honest about it. It hurts less."

[Sallin_Kari]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

I know, which honestly I find a little ridiculous. 'Here is something that bends space and time, allowing you to fit a small armory down there without weighing you down... 500 gold please.' Still, this isn't D&D either so there is no expectation that the same rules apply.

"For a number of reasons. One," I state as I raise up my pointer finger for emphasis," I was expecting it then. Two, you didn't have force behind it. Three, this time you grabbed a... sensitive region which amplified my reactions. Four, while you might not been touching my neck, your claws were pressed up on either side of my sternum. The heart is a very vulnerable organ so people tend to be naturally protective of it." By the end I'm holding up all my fingers on my right hand, before letting out a sigh as I lower them, "Look, while I might find your draconic heritage unnerving, I don't find you unnerving. That's why I apologized. I meant no offense."

[Reaperbones]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Well basic space-time bullshit magic like that is easy for a wizard to do so it's reasonable for it to be cheaper.

Kira listened to her explanations and nodded along. She pulled the silk she had spread out on the table until it was taught and ran her claws along it. She spoke as she did so. "I'll accept your apology only because you've finally been at least a little honest about how you see me. It's funny that you fear this claws. I trim them so often that they can't even cut cloth. They're are great for picking up needles and the such though. Like a pair of tweezers."
She indicated to the cloth that she had ran her claw along to prove her point. She soon got back to work though and spoke. "Ancient tales about Elves always described you guys as nightmares of the forest. When being chased by an Elf in a forest, it is better to just lay down a pray it makes the kill quickly. The alternative is running in fear as the Elf plays cat and mouse with you. Silent, agile, and able to see in the dark. Terrifying. Worst yet was the tales of their mages. Burning down whole villages with only a few words. Picking off the survivors with bolts of ice and fire. There is no surviving and Elven mage. Tell me, what do they say about dragons?"

[Sallin_Kari]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Warping the very fabric of space and time is easy? See that's the point I have contention with. I mean I've had mages get hands on bags of hold before they even learned fireball or equivalent... How is forming pocket dimensions more common than magic hand-grenades?

It was interesting to see an outside perspective of us. Generally speak, no giant metal wolf golem withstanding, elves typically had a vast mobility advantage in the forest, as well as knowledge of it and could use it to mislead their prey into running around in circles, tiring them out before the elf closed in for the kill. Still, as powerful as some mages I've known, I can't think of a single elf mage that could wipe out a whole village much more multiple villages with a single incantation. Possibly a ritual of multiple could do it, but that wouldn't be a few words either. I mean if we had that kind of power, guns and tank or not, this war would have had a very different outcome. So that can be safely discounted as exaggeration.

"To get directly to the point, the term 'Shadow of death' in elven refers to a dragon's shadow, and it is believed that if you are in the shadow of a dragon you are fated to die shortly, even if you manage to get away from said dragon," I explain briefly before adding, "Beyond that, the descriptions of dragons by survivors of war typically portray dragons as rage incarnate, tearing their way through armies, when they aren't scorching the land with fire so hot not even bones remain."

[Reaperbones]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

It's difficult to explain. It's kind of along the concept of what's more useful. Mages aren't the only ones who use bags of holding. Any adventurer should have one, so more are made.

Kira chuckled when she heard Kira describe the Elven viewpoint of dragons. She spoke with a cheerful tone. "You're going to be shocked when you meet your first dragon. Honestly you've probably already seen a couple in the city. Most travel the city in humanoid form while they take care of their errands. Although you might be a bit terrified if you find one in it's natural form. They aren't fluffy, but in all honesty they prefer talking over fighting. Though some love to fight evil more than they like talking. That's mostly the younger dragons though."

[Sallin_Kari]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

It's not difficult to explain at all. I'm talking about it from the designers perspective. It use to be bags of holding were incredibly rare, back in like 2e, but everyone wanted the convenience of them, so they can stop worrying about weight and not being able to drag everything back from the latest dungeon so the difficulty of getting them became less and less until now you can buy a small one for like 1000 gold, meaning a level 3 can get them if they save up. Damn any realistic restrictions on it, because a wizard did it.

I pause for a moment about the concept of a 'humanoid form,' but something else stuck out to me... fighting evil. Evil is a term I've grown to dislike. It's used by people to justify their actions by slandering their victims with the label, which then in turn place the label back on the original perpetrators who then become the next victims. Elves declare humans evil and slaughter them. Dragons and human then declare elves evil, slaughtering and enslaving them. In fact, the close relationship between humans and dragons would likely have lead to the dragons described as 'rage incarnate,' as they were in fact enraged with righteous indignation of how the humans were treated, in the process becoming monsters themselves. I let out an irritated sigh before realizing I've been glowering in silence. I quickly respond, "I apologize, I seemed to have been... sidetracked... Um, was there anything else?"

[Reaperbones]

Kira was about to speak when a voice interrupted her. "You were thinking about morality again weren't you?"
Alex stepped back up the stairs and chuckled. He spoke again as he looked at what cloth she chose. "I should have figured you chose silk. I don't understand how people can stand those light fabrics. It makes me feel nude. Heavy cotton is the best fabric. Durable but soft and heavy enough for you to be sure it's there. Make her worker drags out of the same material you used for mine. Should we make her some leather gloves as well?"
Kira shrugged before looking back at Lara. She spoke as she gave her a smile. "I don't know, but it'd probably be better than a pair of silk gloves with the work you do. What do you say cutie, want to wear some sexy leather?"

[Sallin_Kari]

I momentarily frowned slightly at 'master's' interruption, but say nothing in return.

At his disparagement of my cultures choice in fabrics I reply in my rapidly becoming customary analytical and neutral voice, "First off, as we prefer mobility lighter fabrics are the natural choice, not to mention during the summer, it helps vent excess heat while heavy fabrics like cotton trap it. Second, silk is a very strong material, even a thin layer of it can handle the general wear and tear as well as much thicker fabrics. Third, cotton requires lots of land set aside for agricultural use, which would in turn require us to either destroy a portion of our home, or hold territory outside of it in order to harvest it while silk is produced by animals that are very comfortable in the forest, and can share the environment peacefully, reducing the need to specialize our lands for this purpose... As for leather gloves, while I don't know what you mean by 'sexy' leather, but a pair of leather gloves would be good for the work I suspect I am expected to complete."

[Reaperbones]

It was obvious that Kira had to withhold a chuckle as Lara ripped into Alex. Alex gave her a frown before smirking at Lara. He waited until she was done before speaking. "Your silk didn't seem so tough to me when I ripped it earlier. I see you're finally done worrying about me giving you the final strike."
He stepped over to where Kira was at the table and pulled out a chair to sit on. Kira looked at him quizzically before asking. "Strikes and worrying? Oh what evils did you decide to commit?"
Alex looked at her before blushing a bit and looking away. "I may or may not have lost my head and ripped her clothing then threatened to rape her."
Kira's jaw dropped and it was a few seconds before she spoke again. "You not only got angry, but you also decided to use Adam's advice? Jeez you know that guy's a horndog. Now I understand why she's so damn cold."
Alex looked away, obviously trying to hide his embarrassment.

[Sallin_Kari]

A scowl flashed on my face before I return to my neutral voice, stating, "How well do you think a cotton garment would have stood to such abuse? Besides, I fail to see what is so offensive about informing you about a subject you freely admit you don't understand, or any other reason that doing so would incur the 'final strike' as you put it."

Seeing Kira shame Alex for his reprehensible behavior was satisfying, though I make sure not to show it... That is something I can see him taking offense at.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Silk is actually incredibly strong, the problem is that it is almost universally used very thin layers which gives the impression that is actually weak. It's one of the reasons that parachutes are often made of silk.
Also, I have a feeling that Lara is going to be far more attached to Kira than Alex pretty soon...

[Reaperbones]

Alex gave Lara and serious gaze before speaking. "I guess you have a valid point. I still think cotton is better. Silk feels too weird on the skin in both texture and weight."
Kira bopped him on the forehead to get his attention before continuing her speech. "You know, now everything makes sense. Have fun fixing that burnt bridge."
Alex stood up and spoke as he walked towards his room. "I'm going to go rest. If you are so worried about her then wait a couple years and I'll sell her to you, then she'll be your problem."
Kira gave him a glare as he left. She spoke when the door closed. "One can only wonder how you pissed him off that much. One could also wonder how badly he is beating himself up. I won't ask you to forgive him. You were probably terrified beyond all belief, but I will ask that you just cooperate with him. He's had to bury a lot of friend recently and it's left him in a bad frame of mind, a feeling I'm sure you understand."

[Sallin_Kari]

"A matter of opinion at this point," I reply with a slight nod.

"I dared point out that he and his side is not morally pure in this endeavor and that he is being highly naive in his assumptions that this will lead to peace rather than further resentment. I may have also expressed disdain that his self-righteous actions ruined any chance for peace humans and elves ever had... In fact I think that might, have been what really angered him, since that's when he snapped," I explain, before adding, "Besides, he's not the only one who had to bury friends recently. I fail to see why he deserves extra slack while I deserve none, as far as I can tell, simply because his side is the victor." I pause to let out another sigh, before adding, "With that said, I see no reason to purposefully antagonize him either."