22.1. Diplomatic Negotiations - Part 1

Erik has to use force to get me out of my pyjamas.

"I'm not wearing that!" I'm struggling with him but he's much stronger than me. He was way stronger long before my body weakened after the transformation so now he's unstoppable for me.

"Come on, Ryuu, you'll look so cute in it," he tries to persuade me and throws my sleeping t-shirt away.

"It's a cosplay!" I retort.

"Are cosplays usually such high quality?" Erik points out and wants to get me out of my sleeping shorts. "It's professionally made and from the best fabric."

My phone starts ringing so we freeze for a moment and look at the screen. It's Liana.

"Don't pick it up!" I protest but Erik is quicker and puts the call on speaker.

"Good morning, sleepyheads, did you get my presents?" she asks right away.

"We did," Erik confirms and is petting my wings so that I won't run away. "Thanks for the suits, I love them. The problem is Ryuu, though."

"Expected as much," she sighs. "Make sure he wears it, we can't present him to the Prime Minister in a hoodie."

"Working on it," he smirks.

"Li, you can't be serious," I almost cry.

"I'm already wearing mine," she announces proudly. "Ingri designed clothes for all of us. I'm glad they arrived on time."

"B-but...!"

"Human clothes just don't suit us anymore," Liana's tone gets more serious. "You've been cold all the time lately and me too."

"It's a cosplay!" I repeat desperately.

"Not anymore," she says. "I've been working since seven and I feel really good wearing it. People stared in the beginning but they got used to it quickly. Anyway, I have work before our meeting, bye."

She ends the call so abruptly that I don't have any time to protest more.

"Ryuu, please, I want to see you in it," Erik pleads.

I sigh and look at the boxes. Do I have no choice? Even if I rebelled against Liana and kept wearing my hoodie, she would probably just send me back to change by force. And I would look even more stupid in a suit as I absolutely don't have the figure for it. If anything, a multi-layered robe can at least hide how skinny I am. I give in.

"I don't even know where to start," I'm lost when looking at all those layers. "God, there's even Celestial underwear. And are these thermo leggings?"

Everything has holes for my wings already and since kimono isn't something you pull over your head, I don't have to be afraid that it'll become useless when my wings get really big. Still, Erik has to help me to push my wings through the gaps because I'm not able to do it even after several attempts. I must learn how to manage myself with telekinesis. The sooner the better.

"Ingri is really good at designing clothes," Erik comments when he finds tiny buttons to close the gaps around my wings so that I'm not cold on my back.

Then we look up a photo of my ingame avatar and try to find out the order of layers. I never really paid attention to my clothes ingame. My avatar was dressed either by virtual maids in the palace or automatically by the system. No such luck here. Most importantly, we also have to look up how to tie it.

"Shouldn't a Japanese know that?" Erik teases me. I nudge him, annoyed.

Fortunately, it turns out the 'cosplay' is a bit simplified and Westernized so in the end it isn't that hard to tie. Then we proceed to another layer... and another... and finally to the last one that is embroidered. The last binding is quite tricky because it comes with a real Japanese 'obi' but the Internet helps us once again.

"Is it... real silk?" Erik is touching the fabric with fascination.

"If Liana paid for it, then no doubt," I sigh because it means that I have to be extra careful not to stain it. Moreover, the robe is white so anything would immediately be visible on it.

"Gosh, Ryuu, you're so pretty," Erik is astonished and enchanted.

"Now your turn," I challenge him.

While he's changing, I'm trying to comb my hair. There is a hairpin in the box but my hair isn't that long for it yet since I had to cut it. I save it for later.

"Done, what do you think?" he turns back to me.

I gasp for breath. He's even more handsome than I was imagining! Do I even deserve such a fine boyfriend? How can anyone look so unbelievably handsome in a three-piece suit?

"You're thinking something funny right now," Erik purses his lips.

"I just can't take my eyes off you," I say truthfully. "It fits so perfectly, how did they know?"

"Ingri measured me a week ago," Erik explains. "I had a hunch it was probably for some formal wear she was preparing for us but it never occurred to me she would get you a Celestial robe."

"And she definitely got my measurements from Julia," I shake my head. "Our ladies performed quite a conspiracy—not telling us anything."

"You couldn't read that in their minds?"

"I don't touch them that often," I say. "And even if I did, if the person isn't thinking about it, a casual brief connection won't let me explore deeper."

"I'm actually glad for that," he gently pushes his forehead onto mine. "I want it to be our special thing, my cute telepath."

"Me too," I admit, whispering.

Damn, does he even realise that he's torturing me? I'm this close to be aroused by both his handsome looks and our telepathic connection. Unfortunately or fortunately, we're interrupted by another knocking on the door.

"Ten minutes till ten," Erik checks his watch with disappointment. "We'd better go."

"W-wait, shoes?" I realise we're still wearing slippers.

"Oh, right," Erik rummages the boxes and finds himself an expensive looking pair of black leather shoes. "These must be for you," he hands me another box.

I open it and find white boots. They look fancy but...

"Isn't it for ladies?" I doubt.

"Doesn't matter in your case," Erik laughs.

I stick out my tongue and throw the padding at him. I reluctantly pull the shoes on my legs and have to admit they're quite comfortable and look nice even though nobody will see them really because the robe is covering me down to my feet.

I have to brace myself before looking in the mirror. Do I look too ridiculous? Erik's opinion can't be taken into account, he's too biased. I blink, confused for a moment. I was expecting to feel weird but what I'm looking at is basically my ingame avatar. And I'm used to that. I nervously pull my robe when trying to walk but it's not that strange either even though I have to convince myself over and over again that it isn't technically a dress.

"I'd feel hot in it immediately," Erik comments. "So many layers."

"I feel...," I'm looking for the right word, "surprisingly alright. Not cold anymore. And Celestials don't sweat much anyway."

Another knocking, this time insistent.

We finally open the door, Erik feeling proud in his new brand suit, me feeling self-conscious. I half-expect the bodyguards to chuckle but they their expression doesn't change, only their emotions flutter a bit. Not in a bad way, though—curiously, excitedly... enchantedly even?

We're being led to the big conference room where we were yesterday and only then I realise we haven't had breakfast. My stomach rumbles but too late for that now.

"Let's hope there'll be a break soon," Erik is also getting hungry.

"You're late!" Liana berates us the moment we show up. "Bauerova is already at the reception, hurry!"

I sigh out in relief because she's also wearing a Celestial robe so I don't look that weird wearing it alone. Whereas my robe is pure white with silver glitter and decent embroidery, her attire is dark red with golden ornaments. It suits her really well. All of my friends are already sitting here, all of them wearing Draconia-inspired clothes.

"We're like cosplayers at some convention," I can't resist a poignant comment.

"What a surprise, right?" Fefnir grins, apparently happy. "Our ladies prepared quite a gift for us."

I curiously inspect his clothing. Ingame, the Dragonkin were usually wearing armour almost all the time but in real life that would be highly uncomfortable and simply not practical. I guess there were some casual Dragonkin clothes but they weren't used much so Ingri had to come up with her own designs. Fefnir is wearing a leather quilted vest with a tunic underneath, a metal belt and pants made from thick fabric. It makes him look like a medieval knight. The only thing that is modern are combat shoes.

"Wow, Aefener, it's even better that I was imagining," Ingri is staring at me with a dreamy expression.

Her dress couldn't be further from her previous lolita style. No corset, no patterned tights, no wild makeup. She's wearing a long green dress that makes her look like a forest elf from the Lord of the Rings. Her high-heels are also gone... most probably forever. I guess she would prefer to be bare-foot but as it turns out the Earthborn hate unnatural surfaces, she's wearing light gladiator shoes.

"After this I'm never wearing human clothes again," Emi says, content. "Let's make Ingri our official fashion designer."

I switch my attention to the Clawfang Alpha. It's obvious her clothes were made with emphasis on the freedom of movement. The materials are light so that she's not feeling warm in it, the colours go well with her vulpine fur, she's wearing pants and there's no extra fabric that would get in her way. The Clawfang style couldn't be further from lavish Celestial robes. It's functional and highly practical but it still does look very fantasy-like.

"Now I feel weird," Erik says because it's only him in contemporary clothes. "But we look presentable enough, I hope."

I gulp, suddenly nervous. We went to bed so late yesterday that we fell asleep immediately and in the morning we were too busy getting dressed. I didn't have time to think through what I'm going to face—that I'm meeting my country's Prime Minister! If somebody told me that just a month ago, I would never think it possible. Yet, here we are.

Erik, what if I make a fool of myself? I say telepathically, starting to freak out.

I'm expecting him to reassure me it's going to be fine but he's as nervous as I am. He might be much more extroverted and relaxed around people than me but that doesn't mean anything when meeting such an important person.

Let Liana lead? he suggests. Go with her flow.

"Miss Richter, Mrs Bauerova is here," Anna the administrator announces and fully opens the door.