A slight detour

8 minutes later, our little boat comes back out, with both of us panting slightly. I'm a bit flushed as well, and I now know that Maddie decided not to wear bra or panties under her sundress. The attendant helps us out, a slightly dreamy smile on her face. She looks like she might be a little flushed as well, but I write that off as none of my business. As we walk away, Maddie's first few steps are a little awkward, but she manages to recover quickly, and we start heading to the food court.

On the way, we see a small crowd gathering around a high-striker game, where someone is apparently doing really well, as we hear the bell go off repeatedly. Curious, we head over to take a look. There, swinging the mallet with one hand and hitting the bell every time, is Dani, wearing plain shorts and a t-shirt. She swings it again, then notices the two of us and gets a huge smile on her face as she calls out. She hands the hammer back to the person running the game, and he hands her a giant dragon stuffy.

She walks over to us, the dragon slung over her back. "Hey, you two! Didn't expect to see you here, what's going on?"

Maddie smiles back at her, explaining "Not a lot! We got invited to come along with a couple of our new neighbors, we were just on our way to meet back up with them."

Dani raises her eyebrow briefly, and asks "And are these people in on the..." looking pointedly at Maddie's ears. Maddie just nods, and Dani replies "Nice. Mind if I meet them?" Maddie and I look at each other and I just shrug.

"All right, I guess, sure. We're meeting them at the food court," Dani nods and follows behind us as we make our way there.

At the food court, I see Ellie and Tess sitting at a picnic table, sharing a small tub of popcorn between them. Their eyes widen in surprise when they see the tall girl following us over, and I decide to handle introductions. "Ellie, Tess, this is Maddie's friend Danica. Dani, this is Ellie and Tess." They exchange hellos, and Dani gets a slightly confused look on her face as Tess gets up and walks over, and she leans over. Then Tess gives her a quick kiss on the cheek and hurries back to her seat, blushing, and I continue as Dani straightens back up "Dani is part of the thing with the app, thanks to a little bit of carelessness on my part and a loose tongue on Maddie," I glance playfully at her, and she proceeds to stick said tongue out at me.

Tess has to crane her neck to look Dani in the face, and she asks "Did you ask Matt to make you so tall?" with a little bit of a deer-in-the-headlights look.

Dani chuckles, "No, just good genes there. Take after my dad." She looks between us, and remarks "With all of us involved in this thing, we should probably get to know each other, but I don't want to intrude. I'll be happy to join you guys if you want, or we can set something up later if you prefer."

Ellie and Tess look at each other, and say they don't mind, so Dani joins us as we start circulating around again, playing various games that strike our fancy. At one point while Ellie and Tess are throwing darts to pop balloons, I pull up the app. I've got 32 gems, and I think it's time to try and push Tess a little more through her transition. Scrolling through, I find a couple I like and go ahead and buy them.
Luscious Locks: Targets hair is always shiny and healthy, requiring minimum maintenance. Level Effect: Slight increase to speed at which hair grows (5 gems)
Hippy (Petite): Targets hips expand slightly, giving more feminine curves without detracting from her existing figure. Level Effect: More pronounced hip sway while walking (3 gems)
Bald legs: Targets legs no longer grow hair, any existing hair vanishes over 24 hours. (2 gems)
10 gems spent, I look over at Tess as I hit the buy button, and watch as her hips expand a little. Not enough to be really noticeable, but it definitely gives her a more feminine figure. Satisfied for now, I go ahead and put my phone away, looking forward to the rest of our day.