Flying high II (Kaylee Bell (Kalyh) POV)

You grew up in the Halfling enclave of Mega-City 1, though you are only half halfling. Your father was one but your mother was an elf.

Luckily halflings are pretty cool about this. As a matter of fact, Mythica as a whole is at least neutral about this. Though according to some who have visited the Eye of Knowledge, less savory terms were used in the past to denominate those of mixed blood. But even now there are still exceptions to the unspoken rule of neutrality. Usually, some stuck-ups who think they are the greatest gift to society.

She was a little bit on the short side for an elf, maybe that is what brought them together. They never did elaborate on how they met. Whatever the case they became a couple. She got pregnant and you were born. A cute little thing according to your parents. You got your father's height and your mother's build including the long pointy ears where other halflings only have a hint of pointed ears.

In kindergarten and later on into elementary school you got to know someone with a similar background as you. Only here her mother was a halfling and her father a dwarf. Mitzy as she called herself looked like a halfling but got the resilience and level-headedness of her father. That’s probably why you got along so well you guess.

Kindergarten and elementary school took place in the enclave itself as was common in megacities.
The megacorps however had their own schooling system where children of employees could start in kindergarten and go all the way to a college degree as a fringe benefit for megacorps employees. Keeping them close by gave the megacorps dibs on so-called high-potentials. Children who could become valuable assets as future employees of a megacorp. Minicorps have a similar system in place. Some even speak of synergy and a corporate ecology contrasting with and at the same time similar to the DA ecology. Namely by recruiting very promising minicorps offspring into megacorps and letting offspring less successful at the megacorp's schools flows through to minicorps.

You however grew up in the enclave ring so the next step for the both of you was the common high school in the service ring. Your schoolmates there were a mixed bunch from all the enclaves. So you saw goblins, elves, dwarves, humans, orcs, and even a few ogres and of course, halflings wandering the high school grounds.

By this time two things had happened. You both discovered your penchant for engineering, deepening your friendship by this shared interest. And you have both grown into some fine ladies.

You were of similar height at about 4ft6 and you both had short cut brown hair and a similar build. Even to the extent that people who didn’t know you thought you were siblings.
Besides the similarities of a rectangular build with B-cups and a little less than medium butts, there were some noticeable differences like your ears, obviously.
But also, you had a narrower more triangle face with curling hair rolling off the back of your head to stop just beneath your ears while Mitzy had a rounder more heart-shaped face with a chaotic cut framing her face with small bangs poking out in all directions. Though you had soft grey eyes Mitzy had striking blue eyes.
And while you had a pronounced nose and full red lips, Mitzy had a mouth with small lips and a small nose.
Of the two of you, Mitzy was the one with the paler skin while yours had more of a tan.

By the time you graduated you both had tried several looks but Mitzy settled on a blouse with a leather corset-like top above it (making her B-cups look more like C-cups) short pants, thigh-high stockings and sturdy shoes with knee-high laced leather leg protectors and cut off gloves. A more practical style because she turned out to be the more hands-on one of you two. You on other hand adopted a style with a more loose-fitting shirt and pants completed by some low boots. And a loose scarf around your neck to top it off. On account of you having discovered you also had a knack for running the Grid. The outfit choices made your body shape less accentuated while on the other hand it just accentuated Mitzy's outline.

But all this lays way back in the past because for now, you prepare yourself for take-off while Mitzy runs the aircraft through its take-off checklist. You make yourself comfortable in the back seat. Check your immersion visor. And wait.

Meanwhile, you let yourself slide into the consensual illusion of the Grid putting the immersion visor on.
Once you are in sync with the Grid you are walking down a street with default office block imagery on both sides of the street. You install yourself on one of the benches lining the street which are meant for public meetings and pull your hoodie over your head pretending to be resting but you still keep an eye on your target building. And thus when your friend asks for your status you give her the all-clear sign.

Everything stays that way until suddenly you see your target morph from a default building into a fortified tower with a burning signal fire on top. You don’t know what happened but you’re sure something happened and it’s not good. So you immediately log out.

You don't care where Mitzy took the craft while you were inside the Grid. You remove your immersion visor and tell your friend what you saw. She immediately triggers the bracelet alarm. And then gets both of you the hell out of here.