--- Lily ---
After breakfast was done with Kat and Lily went to have a eting with Thy to discuss the winnings. It only took a quick word to Mint, and suddenly they were standing in what looked like a floating void with Thy sitting behind a desk in a fancy outfit. Compared to Thy's previous appearance that made them look like they were one piece of bad news away from completely crumbling…
This Thy looked like they were ready to rule over a school with an iron fist. The desk blocked the view of Thy's lower half, but what could be seen was a very nicely tailored suit. It was grey and hugged Thy's form closely. The faintest outlines of flowers embroidered into the jacket, also in grey.
The edge of the sleeves had a touch of dark green, and of course Thy had on so imposing square glasses.
*Where does Thy GET all these costus. I sort of just accepted it before but now that I'm thinking about it… does Thy just have a bunch of massive closets full of clothes? Additionally! That might not sound too weird but it's also occurred to … that Thy is a tree. One that probably didn't know what clothes were before now.
I an, Mint just keeps the sa outfit on all the ti, and it never leaves that body. So… yeah it's just a touch strange.*
[Huh… that is an interesting thought. I say we ask Thy about it.]
*WHAT! Kat NO!*
[Kat YES!]
"Welco Kat and Lily, what can I do for you both?" asked Thy seriously.
"Well we'd love to know what's up with your outfits? I an, they're all very cool but it just occurred to Lily that it's slightly strange you have so many… and that you have clothes at all. It's unlikely all of your costus are just made up on the spot, and well, she's too shy to ask so I thought I would!" said Kat.
"No!" hissed Lily. "I thought it wasn't appropriate in the slightest to ask!"
"See, shy," added Kat.
Thy just burst into laughter at the byplay with a big smile on their face, the sever atmosphere from earlier vanishing. "Ah, I'd be happy to tell you! Most people never ask or just accept it as a strange quirk of mine… but I love it all. Acting, clothes. They can change so much about how a person IS. Not only do outfits influence how other people see us, but they change how WE act.
Mostly in subtler ways… but it's a surprisingly large reaching concept.
"It's… fascinating. It was actually my first big area of interest after magic which I don't really count. Back when I was by myself just… in the wilderness all that I cared about was magic because… well there just wasn't anything else that seed interesting. I learnt to read from this old mage's hideout I found, and that set down the path of magic.
Took ages to decipher anything, but it sparked proper interest in my powers.
"For a while that was my only hobby other than surviving… but I didn't exactly have other things to do. With no people around I had to co up with my own entertainnt… so I just studied magic. It was fascinating, and I always wondered what the limits of it were. I know now there basically isn't any limits if you're powerful and creative enough… but that was a huge leap forward for !"
"Anyway, as for eting people? Well the first people I t were other dryads who of course, didn't wear any clothes. They were looking for trees like mine and I was soon introduced to their society… but it just didn't gel with . They were all so… content. Or sleepy? Both perhaps.
They didn't really NEED anything so the hows and the whys weren't important. They spent their ti sleeping, caring for young dryads, or looking for young dryads and potential dryads.
"They just… didn't do anything else. I couldn't comprehend it. I never desired sleep like they did. Perhaps that's because I never felt safe enough to sleep early on. One of the first things I saw upon gaining consciousness was a monster casually scratching trees near . I know now it's to mark territory… but it seed much more damaging at the ti then it was in truth.
"Yes well… from that point all I wanted to do was defend my territory. What I didn't know is that dryad trees recover rather quickly and the minor damage to the back those monsters were doing wasn't a risk at all. It's why most dryads think it's fine to just sleep. There's no danger unless soone or sothing really wants to destroy your tree…
"But I didn't know that so as I said, I tried to defend. I tried fighting them with my avatar… and got torn apart. Which let realise that making an avatar is, close, to effortless. Now it wasn't anything close to humanoid. My first few bodies looked more like the monster I was attacking, but well that doesn't matter too much.
"Or maybe it did? I just kept throwing myself at them and then once my body was too damaged I'd leave it behind. This eventually built up a pile of bodies that acted like a wall and taught that walls are my friend. So then I went a bit nuts in building wooden walls.
I was safe, finally ready for my first bit of sleep… and then a bird monster decided to make a nest in my tree and I was suddenly freaking out again."
Thy paused to let out a long sigh. "Sorry, sorry I'm getting very off track. What I'm was trying to get at, is though the dryads took in… they didn't teach all that much or really act like much of a society. I felt stifled there, so I chose not to move my tree. I was however interested in other people, and one of the dryads ntioned the other races when they were warning of things.
"So off I went to look around… and the first person I t was covered in clothes. It was winter, so there was a reason… but to they looked very funny covered in colourful sweaters and scarves. So I followed them for a while until they ended up at a hot spring and got naked.
"My mind was blown in that mont. These people had stuff they wore on their bodies? Why? So I tried to ask… and obviously they didn't understand . In fact, they turned one of the nearby rocks into an axe and cut off my head. Still, I wasn't deterred!
I understood they were panicked so I tried to visit when they still had all of those colourful clothes on. A good guess in hindsight, but I was assuming they were just happier to be colourful and not that they thought I was a monster, or perhaps were annoyed I caught them bathing. I had no concept of nudity, or modesty back then. So… yeah.
"So that was my first introduction to society. I found the fae first, and I had to keep bugging that one until we worked out a way to communicate. Still not sure why they couldn't understand my writing… if I had to guess it's because I had an older language, or just one they weren't familiar with.
"But yeah… clothes. They… I guess they signified that their society was truly DIFFERENT to the dryads. That there was so much more to the world. And my interest in them started there. Eventually I also learnt that you could lie… and I… I don't quite rember how I reached the conclusion but I decided that wearing clothes was your way to choosing your favourite lie to show the world…
"Then I learnt about theatre and well… I was a hooked. The idea of a COSTU was completely foreign to . The idea that you'd put on sothing unique, and all of a sudden you were a different person? It seed so interesting… so I tried it out… and it worked. I was shocked.
"So many people seed to treat differently when I swapped outfits. It didn't matter that I was still using the sa blocky wooden humanoid form… or that I was a wooden blocky humanoid form. They all reacted to based on what I was wearing and it just… blew my mind. I found it so cool that instead of reworking my entire form I could just change a shirt.
Which, granted, was a lot more effort back then… but it was fairly quick and easy and just so cool,"
"So you just started collecting outfits after that?" asked Kat.
Thy nodded, "Indeed. First I started collecting them, then I learnt how to make adjustnts to them… mostly to fit my poorly made bodies. Then eventually I learnt to make clothes from scratch and now it's sothing I do to flex my creative muscles, relax… and of course expand my costu collection,"
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