The Legendary Monster Layer!

“Oh,” Ari said. “You’re all here. Perfect.”

Silvana appraised Ari. She was covered in filth—and not the kind Silvana herself was. Ari’s adventures tended to collect a sheen of … a different sort.

Ari’s skin was still flushed from her adventures, and Silvana tried not to let herself be too affected by the sight. Controlling her biological reactions was a constant struggle—with so much between her legs, raising mast was seriously embarrassing. Impossible to hide. Especially when naked.

Though she didn’t think any of her teammates would be particularly upset at Silvana if her resolve faltered. They were used to each other in that regard. But it would still be embarrassing, especially with Renna, who she didn’t know a quarter as well as Lori and Claire.

Renna. Their newest addition. Though Silvana was the only one here to have met the girl, she still scrutinized her. Ari had shown a looseness in her decision-making process that Silvana—or any of the Menagerie, to her knowledge—didn’t wholly approve of.

Not that she had problems with the wolf-girl. She seemed fine. Not that Silvana had had nearly enough interactions to say so for certain. Just—Ari tended to let a non-practical sort of judgment guide her thought process.

At least Renna wasn’t a blatantly poor choice from what Silvana had seen.

“All here,” Silvana agreed, the thoughts flicking into her head only lasting a second. At the same time, Claire said with a bright smile, “Yep! Just got back!”

Ari and Renna were clothed, at least, which alleviated some potential awkwardness—not a guaranteed thing, considering what sort of ‘adventures’ they’d come back from.

Renna stood there, hands tucked into her leather pant’s pockets, and seemingly totally at ease.

She did have a natural aplomb to her, Silvana thought. A confident demeanor that wasn’t the same as Lori’s; less stand-offish, more assumed. Almost arrogant, if Silvana was honest, though that might be a judgmental appraisal, seeing how she didn’t know Renna in any remotely meaningful way. But first impressions were hard to brush off.

“I’m glad everyone’s okay,” Ari said, and even a stranger could see the words were true: Ari’s relief was visible. It was another odd aspect to Silvana’s owner that she didn’t quite understand. Someone like her—an equivalent to a Dungeon Core, in a bizarre but fitting comparison—ought to only consider her Menagerie a means to an end. She seemed genuinely concerned over everyone’s well beings. More than that, even. Like Ari considered them her friends.

More, even, than friends, Silvana suspected.

Was that returned on Silvana’s part? She couldn’t answer for certain.

“Oh!” Ari said. “This is Renna.” Ari gave a sheepish smile, having actually forgotten—having grown so comfortable in Renna’s presence she’d forgotten she was new. Ari did seem to be that way: shockingly quick to warm up to people. It’d been one of the reasons Silvana had slotted into the party so seamlessly. Silvana wondered whether Ari even knew how at-ease she made people feel.

Claire advanced, holding a hand out. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said cheerfully.

Renna returned the handshake, blinking, but not particularly uneasy with meeting her teammates. “You too.”

Claire stepped back, and everyone’s attention turned naturally to Lori. Normally, Silvana figured, the cat-girl wouldn’t remotely have cared at the expectation she was next—but Ari’s raised eyebrows prompted her into motion. And not entirely because Ari owned them. Rather, that Lori cared what Ari thought of her, and wanted to please her.

Lori didn’t step forward and shake Renna’s hand like Claire, but she did nod, and say, “Lori. It’s nice to have you in the squad.”

“Leopard?”

“Wolf?”

Two returning nods, and that was that. Silvana couldn’t help the way her lips quirked at the brusqueness. Each of their tails swished in annoyance—it seemed the phrase ‘cats and dogs’ had some credence.

Then Silvana paused, wondering over yet another foreign concept inserted into her head. Weird.

Ari clapped her hands together. “How’d everyone’s day go?” She beamed Silvana’s way, which did an excellent job of turning her stomach to mush. “I can see Silvy’s been hard at work.” A pivot of her head, which released Silvana, previously captured by Ari’s big green eyes. “And you two, the same, I’m sure.”

“It went well enough,” Lori said.

“Went great!” Claire said.

“Any level ups?”

Lori and Claire shook their hands, but when Ari’s attention turned to Silvana, she nodded.

“[Memorize],” Silvana said. “I guess it’ll help me … learn how to make stuff?” The skills description hadn’t been entirely helpful. She quoted, “Engrave permanently into memory a provided process, blueprint, or diagram.”

“Oh,” Ari said. “Huh. I guess I should get you some textbooks.”

Silvana paused as she referenced her memories. Some aspects of her new life were slow to spring up—she puzzled over the ideas the word ‘textbook’ brought. She nodded, slowly, in agreement with Ari. It seemed that would be why she’d received the skill. “Useful.”

Ari turned to Renna. “Why don’t you three say hi? I need to talk to Silvy real quick.”

Silvana blinked in surprise. Ari needed to talk to her? Specifically? Away from the rest of the Menagerie? Why?

“Sure,” Renna said, continuing her assured, unruffled demeanor. Her gaze turned to Claire and Lori, not off-put at the somewhat forced introduction. Silvana probably would’ve been awkward in the situation; she’d never been great at social stuff.

Er … of course she hadn’t. She hadn’t even had a complex enough existence for ‘social stuff’ to be convoluted enough to worry about.

Sudden sapience was weird.

She followed Ari up the steps of the burrow, wondering why she’d been called on.