Kaia the Argent Wing

“So, how’s it going, the juggling?” April asked quietly with a grin.

I glanced back at Chloe reflexively, only to find her watching me. My cheeks heated, and I turned quickly around again. Oops. Caught staring… wait! But she was, too! There, fair is fair.

April laughed under her breath. “Silver?”

“Huh?” I asked, whipping my head around to meet her eyes.

“Nevermind,” said my friend, rolling her eyes wryly.

Coughing awkwardly, I grasped for something to talk about. Ah! “Wait, so what kind of armour are you thinking of trying?”

“So some smart cookie has been yoinking the skins from any kills that get brought back. Dude is like, a 40-something accountant, but apparently his hobby is leatherworking. He’s only ever bought leather, then made things like wallets or whatever, but he knows a little of the theory. Anyway, he's made his first batch of very very rough leather,” she explained as we wove through the smithy and into the workshop.

Multiple folks were busy measuring out and marking various pieces of steel while Charles contemplated a blueprint nearby. Behind them, near the back of the room, were a few others who I recognised as crafters who were working on various other projects.

One man in particular—whose dark hairline was fighting a losing battle with his forehead—was frowning as he inspected an offcut of leather. I guess that's our guy.

Predictably, work slowly came to a stop as I walked in as everyone stared at me. One or two frowned, but most wore smiles on their faces. One of the latter, to my surprise, was Charles.

“Silver hair and rabbit ears!” He said, gesturing to my head then offering a hand shake. “You must be the Angel everyone talks about. Name’s Charles.”

I shook his hand, surprised by the warm welcome from a normally grumpy man.

“She really is very tall,” someone said softly.

Another rumbled agreement. “I was an atheist before all this, but it's hard to argue that she ain't cut from angelic cloth. ‘cept the bunny ears. That's a little strange.”

Self-consciously, I reached up to touch the soft fur of one of my ears. I didn't even notice them most of the time, but apparently others did.

“Quiet down, you lot!” Charles barked. “What'd I say about the new workshop rules this morning? Everyone’s an equal here, except when it comes to their field, or me, because this is my darn workshop.”

“What's she even an expert in?” Someone grumbled. I didn't catch who said it, and apparently neither did Charles.

His expression turned thunderous. “Oh, yer lucky I don't recognise who said that, but I'll entertain the question. What's Silver an expert in, ya ask? She's an expert in pulling your soft lily-white asses outta the gosh darn fire. I hear she’s practically made it a weekly event!”

“She's here to help us develop some rudimentary armour,” April said. “I heard talk of a trip to the library, too?”

“Uh, yeah,” I nodded, then clicked my fingers and pointed to the crafters. “Oh, right! If anyone has any specific subject they want books on, let me know. I'll get a list for when I take a crew down there.”

“You heard the lass,” Charles grinned, then pointed to April and me. “Now you two, git. You're distracting the folks here who should be doing more measurin’ and less yappin’.”

Shaking my head wryly, I wove my way through all the workbenches towards the man with the leather. He'd watched the exchange with a raised eyebrow, but now, he nodded a greeting as we approached.

“Nice to meet you, Silver,” he said with a smile. His tone and expression gave me chill vibes, like he really didn’t care one way or another if I was actually an angel or not. “April mentioned what we want to do?”

“Make some armour?” I asked.

He grinned. “Yes, although we're going to start small. I'm going to make you a small vest-like harness out of leather that will just barely cover your… chest. It'll have metal plates made by April. Then, we'll create a sort of leather corset for your waist. Now, that piece will have to go without any metal plates for now. We don't have the knowledge to do that and not impede your movement. Your legs will also have a sort of leather harness, with metal plates on the shins, plus smaller ones on the kneecap and outer side of the knee—”

He kept talking, telling me his plans to get me all suited up. He warned me, though, that this was only a test, and that both his tanning and leather working skills weren't up to the task yet.

“—and,” he continued, “I sure as shit don't know how to make armour. Best I have to go on is my old road biking outfit from my brief midlife crisis.”

He chuckled to himself then, and held up a tape measure. “So, are you two ready? Wouldn't be proper for an old dude like me to go measuring you up, hence why April is here and not out there clanging away with her metals and stuff.”

“Yeah, I'm ready,” I agreed, watching as the no-nonsense leatherworker got out a pencil and paper.

April stepped close, and when she looked up at me, I was surprised to see a little blush on her cheeks. Oh, right! She found my Silver form to be very attractive.

“Enjoy yourself,” I murmured with a sly, cocky grin, too quietly for the guy to hear. 

Her eyes widened for a heartbeat, then she threw me a sly smile. “Oh? Is that permission?”

Oh, goodness, suddenly my mouth was dry and my stomach was holding a full-on butterfly ball. I nodded. I was… I definitely struggled to be dominant in uh… these situations, that's for sure.

And so that's how I found myself being touched and caressed by my friend while she called out measurements to the leatherworker. He was completely oblivious to it, of course. April was subtle. A trailing fingertip here, a lingering touch there…

It. Was. Excruciating.

There was one moment, right as she was getting my upper thigh measurement, where she trailed a fingertip all the way up the inside of my thigh. I quivered.

“Okay, okay,” I finally whispered breathlessly. “Mercy.”

“Sure thing,” she chuckled, wiggling her eyebrows at me. “So what did we learn?”

“That I really shouldn't give you the opportunity to call my bluff, because you'll take it and run with it,” I giggled. Oh, jeez. Giggling was… I don't know how I felt about that.

“Exactly,” she replied with a smug wink.

She got to finishing the measurements in a much more business-like manner while I became lost in thought. To my chagrin, I was horny. April had just turned me on so much that I wanted to retreat back to my base and deal with it. That was, to be real, a new feeling to me.

Previously when a girl or guy did something that turned me on, I'd have to hide the resulting boner, but also… it just felt icky. I didn't like it. I felt dirty, and creepy, and predatory.

As a girl, though? With April getting permission to be a little handsy, but more importantly, taking charge of the situation like that? I loved it. It felt incredible, like I finally had permission to enjoy being turned on, even if there was a sort of unspoken agreement that this wouldn't actually lead anywhere between us. We were buddies, but we were also both single and liked girls… It was an odd but not unwelcome dynamic.

“Alright, gorgeous,” April said, patting me on the arm. “We're done.”

Although… if she kept calling me ‘gorgeous’ like that… I wasn't made of stone, and she was both a very good and fun person. Not to mention her arms and abs, oh my lord. Talk about toned, I—

April snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Silver! Concentrate! Vincent asked you a question.”

Oh, so his name was Vincent! That's good to know.

“Sorry,” I said to him. “What did you say?”

“Once you get me a book on tanning, I can replace all the hide with proper leather,” he explained. “But, will you be wanting to go full plate when we think we can make a passable attempt at it?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “I have enough strength that it'll probably feel much lighter than it really is.”

“Excellent,” he said, clapping his hands together. “Buckles and such are well within my abilities. Having to mould leather to the shape of a person isn’t something I know how to do.”

“I have no idea, but would boiling and then wrapping it over a mannequin be a good start?” I asked, thinking about the problem.

He gave me a dubious look. “Soaking maybe, but I’d rather not make soup.”

I laughed. “Right. I guess I’ll leave it to you and get some books to help.”

“That’d be grand,” he said, and turned back to his work.

I raised an eyebrow at April, who shrugged and gestured for us to head back out to the smithy. I should probably see about putting together a team to go and scavenge the library, although I’d like to wait a day or two.