middaeg | [OPEN]

Who: Monika & You!
When: Throughout Mid-Septeril
Where: Shopping/Entertainment/Aristocratic/Residential Districts, & The Haven
(Daytime or Evening is fine)
What: Clothes-changing potions from the "Victorious Secret" quest that work exactly as intended
Warnings: Lingerie and other sort of revealing evening-wear.

Monika had by now gotten nicely into the habit of working part-time. It gave her the chance to earn some money without feeling too overwhelmed. It also kept her occupied and distracted while everyone else was off on their adventure in that other city. Honestly, the less she thought about that place, the better.

She really didn't like it.

Anyways, today she was off testing a specific set of potions for an alchemy shop. Nothing too crazy, apparently, just some potions that could change your clothes just by drinking it. It sounded pretty fascinating and fun, even if details were a little sparse.

It's only after the fact that Monika finally realizes what she's gotten herself mixed-up in.

The potions are harmless, and they work well-enough.

Maybe a little too well?

"What do you mean that I'm stuck wearing this for the next couple of hours?" was what Monika asked.

To which the storekeeps responded by presenting the fine (and small) print to her.

With no real leg to stand on, Monika excused herself for the day and made her way back to her room. A trip which seemed so much longer now that she was stuck wearing various types of lingerie and evening-wear. While she was able to cast an illusion on herself to make it look like she was wearing more modest clothing, Monika is so distracted that it's tough to maintain her focus to keep the spell.

That's fine, all she has to do is make it back to her room all the way back in The Haven and this will all be over.

Surely it can't be that difficult.

[Additional artist credit goes to here & here.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It shouldn't be that difficult, but yet, it turns out to be a bit more complicated when Monika is trying to avoid people she knows... and when Rich, recently back in Aefenglom after that Worst Road Trip Ever, is eager to talk to people. He catches her eye as she's hurrying past, and he runs to keep up with her.

"Monika! Hey! Geez, slow down a little! My legs aren't as long as yours."

How unlucky could one person running into a familiar face now of all times? Maybe if she had taken a more roundabout path...

Okay, at least her illusion is still up. So he should just be seeing her dressed like normal. Just gotta maintain focus and...

"O-Oh, Rich... H-Hi!"

Act natural.

She is definitely... not acting normal. Sure, Monika isn't always the most outgoing person, but Rich has never heard her stammer like that. He raises an eyebrow, but starts walking beside her with a small grin.

"Hey. You alright there? Sorry if I scared you or something, I was just on my way home from work."

"It's fine!" She says more loudly than needed when Rich is right next to her. Honestly? This was harder than Monika originally thought. The illusion is still working, she knows. But an illusion is all it is.

In reality, all she's wearing is the same set of lingerie she left the store in.

"It's... fine. Y-Yeah. You just startled me is all." Is her face getting red?

She is acting really weird. Is she sick or something? He didn't think being around him bothered her that much.

"I must have startled you. Your face is like beet red. You don't need to get worked up..." He reaches out to give her a pat on the arm.

"No, don't!"

Monika immediately puts distance between herself and Rich after noticing his attempt at touching her. More distance than was probably needed for a simple arm pat.

"Sorry, I just, uh..."

She needs to keep up the illusion, she needs to!

"You don't need to apologize. I just was worried. You're acting really strange, and I know, weird dude like me probably has cooties, but I thought I could just give you a pat on the back or something."

He looks her up and down, attempting to search for anything that might be even the slightest bit off about Monika.

"It's nothing you did, honest." Trying to maintain an illusion while obviously distracted so that you don't spot her in an embarrassing a spot as she's ever been in.

No big deal.

"I'm just a little distracted and a little on edge..."

"On edge? I mean, I guess there is a lot going on. Any way you can think of that I could help you calm down?"

Probably going far, far away from her, but Rich doesn't know that.

"I'm not too sure. I think what I really need is to make it back indoors and to my room." Where there would be far, far less eyes on her.

"That's not weird, right?"

"Not at all. Everyone deals with anxiety differently. Getting away from people is a common one so... I'll walk you there, okay?"

He doesn't know how her mental health is, but he doesn't exactly want to leave her alone if she'll have a full on panic attack.

Honestly, she'd just like to tell him to go away and leave her alone. She'd really just like to do that, but it never ends up happening.

"S-Sure! I'd really appreciate that."

At least Monika was still a pretty decent liar, and Rich was still... pretty oblivious.

Rich is pretty oblivious, taking her discomfort with him to simply be a side effect of her current anxious state. That said, if she thinks that once he walks her home, he's just going to leave... well, she might be surprised.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Everyone gets like this sometimes. I know I still do. I know your whole... thing is like, being pretty and confident and successful, but you have to give yourself room to breathe."

She stopped in her tracks for a moment, his words echoing deep.

"That's what you really think of me? Because I'm not, you know."

Not so much the part where she was 'pretty,' she was already pretty confident in that. It was the rest.

"Before I came here, so much of what I tried just ended up in failure."

...Ah, that hit a nerve, didn't it? Rich isn't surprised. Looking at the girls he talks to, the more confident you seem, the more terrified you are on the inside. Just like him, honestly. Maybe that's just a thing for all humans.

~~This just in: Rich discovers low self-esteem isn't sexist~~

"I had a lot of failures too. I think all of us do... it's part of growing up, right? But you know your failures don't have to dictate who you are."

"Easy for you to say." His failures weren't the reason she'd basically erased her entire world. Could she even call that place a world? It honestly felt more like a prison to her. One that she detested.

But one that couldn't be saved.

Ah, but someone should probably tell Monika that she's thinking a bit too much about this. Mostly because her concentration was slipping and the illusion she'd been desperate to maintain was fading.

Fast.

"Hey, I don't know everything about where you're from, but it..."

He was going to argue that her failures couldn't have been completely catestrophic, but any arguments he could make for that suddenly fade, as he finds himself... somehow seeing through Monika's shirt.

Is this some sort of monster trait he didn't know about? He gasps and averts his eyes immediately.

"Hey uh, did you get wet or something? You're uh..." He gestures helplessly to her, still avoiding looking in her direction.

"Hmm? What are you...?" Oh, it was happening, wasn't it. Monika could tell that her illusion was fading, and she hurried to strengthen her concentration.

"You..."

One crisis had been averted, at least.

"You didn't see anything just now!"

I... uh, I think I kind of did? I mean, it's fine, it's not a big deal, I won't be creepy about it!

[Whatever happened with her clothing, it was clear Monika didn't want it to happen, and it seems to be fading now. Maybe he just... shouldn't ask?]

[OPEN]

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