Let Xiaoqing introduce herself.

Fang heaves. It looks like she's having an asthma attack. With heavy breaths, she grabs hold of Nyllia's arm and stares at her body adorned by the most beautiful gown. Her face is flushed. She can hardly contain her thoughts. And upon the appearance of Xiaoqing, steam sprays from her ears. "Wh-Wh-What a lucky life I get to live~!" she screams before finally releasing her grip and stumbling backwards.

You catch her before she falls. "I guess you both passed the Fang-check," you say.

Nyllia smiles. "Did you not see my dress before I departed? And I believe if I were wearing nothing at all, I would pass as well, so I am not sure how reliable this test may be."

"She's right," says Fang as she looks up at you, still in your arms.

You help the catfolk back to her feet. "Let's get back to the matter at hand. Try to control your hormones for just a few minutes."

A handful of others are present near the fountain. You're there of course, and the aforementioned girls, but Niki is there too, along with Eva and Amara. Though silent, Snow is present as well. There's one other nearby, dressed in a matter instantly recognizable, though something new you haven't seen her wear before. It's Summer, now with a cute apron perfectly suited for a busy bee like herself.

First, she wears a short black dress. With her bumble-butt and stinger, it's cut just long enough to not prop all the way up to reveal her panties, though just barely--not that she cared much about that before, as her previous dress did in fact get pulled up by her stinger at all times. Wrapped around that dress is a frilly, striped apron, of course black and yellow, though with a big flower right over her bust, and she shows it all off by a playful spin around. The back of her dress is cut low to make room for her translucent wings, which buzz with glee upon the attention you've giving her. She wears flats to match, with straps binding up her ankles coloured and designed to appear as streams of honey running down to her feet.

As she spins, the antennae protruding from her neck-length brunette hair bounce, as do other assets, and then she comes to a stop with hands together, and a smile upon her face brighter than the sun. There was no audience for this--none apart from you. It doesn't matter to her. She only did it for your eyes, as she noticed you catch view of the new attire she's proud to wear.

Xiaoqing is the one under the spotlight. Pink fills her cheeks, partly because of how many eyes are upon her, and due to her sparkling dress--something she's never worn anything like before. "Thank you for letting me to this myself, Kyle, but I admit I'm pretty nervous."

"It's all right!" says Niki. She's wearing her armour today. "I don't know what you're about to do, but if you're good buddies with Kyle, you're fine by me."

Near her is Snow, garbed in her adventuring gear as well. Perhaps they were training. She nods.

Fang may have been doing so as well given her garb. Perhaps they were sparring with one another. "Go on! You don't need to be afraid of us."

Eva is dressed casually. "Yeah. Don't be nervous. It isn't like you're standing in front of us naked or something. Now that would make it harder."

Amara chuckles, also wearing her cozy clothing. "It would indeed. But instead she is wearing such a lovely dress. Where did you find it?"

"A shop in Avana," answers Nyllia. "Luna is fantastic, but I believe she would appreciate seeing various garments made by other hands."

Summer giggles as she scurries up closer to briefly squeeze your arm, though she lets go of it just as quickly. She bounces up and down with an overabundance of energy. "Ooh. Are you another demigod-type? I could guess. I mean, you sort of remind me of the Empress of Ice, so maybe you're her sister or something?"

Xiaoqing shakes her head. "Not quite, no." She then clears her throat, and takes a deep breath. "My name is Xiaoqing, and I come from Earth. If we're to compare to kingdoms like Tivera, I hail from China. Not to dive into the details, but I've had a difficult time in Absoterra. Eventually I ended up having to flee from my own identity, so I took on another. That led me to joining the Silver Hunters as the mysterious boy named Xue."

"W-Wait. You're Xue?!" Niki shouts. "I thought you were just an adorably edgy boy."

"I had a feeling you were hiding something," Snow comments.

"On my journey, I made a pact with Aak'aba the Empress of Ice," Xiaoqing continues. "As you may or may not know, humans from Earth have no ability to learn magic without mana of their own, and can't take on a class from Goa. It was my only choice for power."

"Another traveller from Earth," Amara says to herself. She then smiles wide. "You must be so happy, Kyle, to meet another from your world."

Eva shrugs. "Yeah but like, you probably don't have that much in common, right? Sure, you share worlds, but--" She then catches her own jealousy, and awkwardly clears her throat as she straightens out her skirt despite neither being necessary. "Sorry. I meant to say that it's a pleasure to meet you properly."

Xiaoqing curtsies. "It's a pleasure to meet you all properly as well."

"So are you still on the run then?" Niki asks.

"I've come to the conclusion that Kyle has a much larger target on his head than I do, especially so far from that land. I originally came to Abso across the ocean east of here, not in Tivera. If someone actually does come for me now, I'll simply freeze them solid. I think if I'm to stick with you all, I'll face much larger threats than any who care about who I am."

Nyllia touches a finger to the girl's cheek. "And you do not have to be alone anymore," she says softly. "Stay behind us if needed, my dear, and we will be your aegis."

"I can see why you're the templar," she mutters.

"And you already know first-hand just how capable Kyle can be," she says with a knowing glint in her eye.

Xiaoqing turns red. She dismisses the comment quickly just in case anyone were to follow up with another question. "Enough about me," she says. "I'm glad to be back and without that mask, but I'd rather blend back into the crowd again. Speaking of which, is there anywhere I can go to get an outfit that isn't so..."

You take the girl by her hand. "Of course," you answer. "Yeah I imagine both you and Nyllia are eager to get into something more practical. I'll take you to see Luna. I promise that she'll be so eager to dress you in something, that it'll already be half done before we even ask."

"Oh yeah. Luna has been going wild lately," says Summer.

"What do you mean?" you ask.

"Well she's always working hard, but she's been obsessively making stuff now that so many materials have been coming from all the trade we've been doing. And I completely understand, because we have so many ingredients now too~! Did you know there's a type of pink honey that makes you suuuper horn--"

"And it doesn't help that all this talk of Earth has given her even more ideas," Snow continues the other girl's initial thought. "Styles she never even considered. From what I've heard, it's already starting to spread outside of Castle Phoenix. Slowly, but I saw a few people leave recently with... What were they called again?"

Summer clicks back into the conversation. "Ripped jeans and sneakers."

"Why would people want pre-ripped clothes?" Eva asks. Then gears turn in her mind and she smirks. "Actually, maybe--"

"It isn't a fetish thing," Niki barks. "It just looks cool, like battle damage."

You shrug. "I just described to Luna everything I could think of in relation to modern Earth clothes, from the cultures I know about."

"I think perhaps you are changing the world in many ways," Amara says. "Tivera, and perhaps beyond, will not be the same after the coming of Kyle. Isekai Theory is one thing, but I do not personally know of any records of people coming from your world, and proudly announcing that fact in front of an entire city."

"It's probably happened but everyone thought they were a lunatic," says Niki.

"That and I admittedly know little from outside Tivera, pieces of Varat, and the free cities to the southwest."

"To think, there's a whole world of pretty girls out there," Fang ponders aloud. "Maybe we need to do more exploration."

"Honestly, I was thinking about that," you say.