Ame grabs her scratch paper and draws a heart with the lines at the bottom point continuing to make an 'X' before curving upward around the outside of the heart, then shows Bys.

"Y'know, back where I'm from, there's an... art trope. Lewd drawings of naked girls will sometimes have a vaguely yonic symbol tattooed just below her waist. Like a sign announcing without words that this is a pussy that's ready to be fucked. Or bred, depending on the viewer's taste. It's called a 'womb tattoo'. The location is more important than the specific symbol, so the thought occurred to me as a way to imply a non-lewd symbol is touching on something lewd."

"That's not a heart. That's a peach. Womb tattoo, huh..." She blushes. "You're all about sexual liberation, Yes? I sort of helped free some slaves... I should tell you the whole story some time, but two hands gripping a broken collar means 'liberation'. Seem appropriate?"

"I have no idea why that shape is called a heart either but yes. Very appropriate. And also yeah that sounds like a good story."

She sketches the design. "Hmm, I think I like it. I'll think about it more, maybe make it look - a tad yonic - but... Maybe." She sighs slightly. "If there's one thing I don't like about that 'blessing', it makes me feel less feminine. It doesn't bother me all that much, but it doesn't bother me zero. You know?"

She visibly pauses.

"Give me a heal? I want a pussy right now instead and maybe your Skill can do that."

"Wow I should've thought of that."

Ame reaches out and grabs her hand. Concentrates. She can unheal. If she can go backwards, going sideways shouldn't be much harder, right? Abyssia's body already knows both of the patterns she'd be moving sideways between...

There's a moment of the feeling of stretching the Skill, but then something shifts and the Skill falls into its second stable configuration, like clicking a pen.

Abyssia's posture shifts and she gives Ame a grin and a hug. "Awesome!" Also a kiss for good measure, how about.

...sudden clarity about why that sit-on-my-face comment landed poorly. Ame inwardly rolls her eyes at herself. Not being 'on' is one thing but that was just careless.

Ame slips off her chair to continue the kissing and press up against Bys sensuously while she does.

Bys really is in a much more pettable mood now. She sits on the bed and guides Ame's kisses to her newly switched pussy before long. It's nice.

Then she goes to take a shower and clean her weapons.

Elizabeth doesn't get back for another couple of hours, looking cheerful enough and holding a lot of residual Ghyran in her body.

"I went and rented a pair of reservoir gems and filled them, so we should be good to delve tomorrow!"

Ame takes a turn in the shower, takes the opportunity to wash her shirt and panties, then gets back to interrogating viric without bothering to put her clothes back on first.

"Nice," Ame comments at Elizabeth without looking up. "I think I've got what I need to make this work. This part, into this part, like that. This part. It's not right. But if I'm right about what goes wrong then... Okay I need to test-fire this."

"Shiny. Where do you have in mind that's secret enough and secure from accidental explosions?"

"That... is a good question."

Ame slumps back and stares up at the ceiling.

"I don't need secret, but I am expecting this draft to blow up in my face, I just need to see how."

"You're stringing together mad-science bullshit megaspells. You need secret. I can ward a basement if we find a basement to borrow. We can say we're testing a tricky bit of sorcery, sorcery's known to blow up."

"Bullshit megaspells? Oh come on," Ame says wryly, waving the draft paper. "There's no way this klugde isn't just a worse version of some totally standard and mundane battle spell. I'm a savage with one bizarre outside-context advantage trying and only sort of succeeding at independently inventing the wheel because I don't feel like waiting in line at the wheel store."

"Okay, bullshit ritual spells. Which are known to be an esoteric and finicky thing. And you're really underestimating how many people would like to kidnap and mind-control you for the magic language," she says cheerily.

"But I'm probably not underestimating how many would want to kidnap and mind-control me for other reasons."

Ame glances at the window. It's dark out. Night fell while she was working.

"You have a point though. Flaunting it would be stupid. I can probably get out to an empty field and back without anyone noticing?"

"Better than nothing if I come with you and shell out a little ulgu to hide you," and watch the bullshit ritual derived out of nothing, "I'm taking a liking to it."

"You can do that? Alright. Sure. Let's go."

Ame grabs her clothes out of the bathroom and puts them on, then grabs her latest draft, folds it up, and sticks it into her skirt.

"It's called Shadowcloak. People will go right past whatever as long as they're not specifically looking for it or have a strong sensory ability."

Elizabeth's plan appears to be: Walking straight out the front gates with her Wyldfire Staff held openly.

...wait, really?

"If we're assuming that no one is specifically looking and that no one has a strong sensory ability that seems less paranoid than you were just scolding me for not being," Ame deadpans, once they're through the gate.

"Who, us? We're just going for a nature walk so I can show you how to draw up ghyran from dormant plants. Sneaking out is suspicious. But maybe we just have different instincts for this."

"It's only suspicious if you get caught. Instead we're now on record as having the opposite of an alibi. Isn't that worse?"

"Look, there's nothing wrong with learning multi-wind sorcery. It's dangerous but not forbidden. It'll be embarrassing if we get caught for that, nothing more. And we can walk a while until we're pretty sure either nobody's following us, or someone we have no hope of evading is."

"...maybe you're right. Maybe my instincts are still mostly calibrated for, a different set of threats. Because my instincts don't expect that to matter. But I can't actually point to flaw in your logic there."

"Not a wrong instinct, just a different one. I'm not exactly a high-level rogue either. But I think we'll be fine."