“Grocery shopping, really?” Rob dragged his heels over the threshold of the store. “You said we needed to go on a quest to, what was it…?”

“My soul is bound to your will, Summoner, until we complete a quest. There are no great evils you must slay, no dangers to your land or people, so we'll hunt and gather food for you.” Saranell strolled through the open doors proudly. It had been hard to convince her that she in fact needed to wear clothes, and that her nude attire would gather unwanted attention, particularly with the authorities. Not that he had clothing to fit a girl half his size, so she was making due with the oversized t-shirt and a pair of leggings that Liz had left behind when she moved out.

As the pair passed through the small crowd of people doing their own shopping, Rob noticed the states they were attracting. The fact that she was roughly half his size, and the pointed ears that peaked prominently from her bright green hair made it difficult to remain unnoticed.

Saranell didn't really seem to mind all the attention. "I would make trips to the land of humans many times a year," she explained. "They would always find my kind an oddity, and stare constantly. The children would be quite rude, the adults never bothered me much."

The shopping trip was uneventful, otherwise. Saranell made sure to help Rob get everything he would need, and stick to some of the healthier options they had. Frozen dinners and premade meals were kept in moderation. Every time he started to protest, Saranell silenced him with a wave of her hand, saying that a warrior like him needed to eat right to keep up his strength.

Rob paid for the food, quietly mumbling his greetings to the cashier. Meanwhile, Saranell remained alert, watching any who would dare to come near the pair. Rob hurried out to the car, Saranell keeping up at a light jog. Rob had to hoist Saranell up into the trunk, and from there she was able to help him stage the groceries into an appropriate pattern to safely transport them all. Helping her back down, Rob reflected on their vast difference in size. She was almost childlike in stature; though she had quite cheerfully informed him that all elves from her land were similarly diminutive. As the day progressed, Rob felt less like he was babysitting a little girl, and more like he had a companion, someone working with him to accomplish a goal.

The goal being ‘grocery shopping’ wasn’t lost on him, however. It felt silly, but at the same time, his fridge at home had hotdogs and frozen dinners. He hadn't had real groceries in a while. Since Liz. Saranell's chipper tone was infectious, and breaking through Rob's own depression. Perhaps a combination of the exercise and being productive had lead to Rob having a better day. A good day, even, he could argue.

He climbed into the driver's seat to head home, prompting Saranell to tell him more of her homeworld, even though he knew it never existed. She spoke with passion and energy, talking about growing up in the woods, about the relations between humans and elves and even other races of the land. It was fascinating, and Rob found himself wishing he could visit this magical land himself.

They arrived home, and the team unloaded the groceries together. Rob sat down on the couch, and Saranell crouched beside him on the top of the coffee table. She rubbed her temples aggressively. Rob looked up at her quizzically.

"Headache. That's all "

He nodded back to her. She was definitely odd. Like Sally, Saranell didn't seem into him. Also, the 'from another world' problem was perhaps even more odd, when he thought about it. "So… what now? Are you able to head back to your world?"

"There's no magic in your world, I'm afraid I'm stuck here. Unless you have a way to send me back, Summoner." Rob shook his head. He could ship her back to Custom Made Girls, but it wouldn't turn out how she intended, that was certain. "Then I am here, and I will remain faithful to you. I know you did not summon me here with the intent to trap me "

Rob nodded in response this time. Truth be told, he hadn't been fully cognizant of what he was doing when ordering his seemingly endless harem of girls, and perhaps should have been coming up with a plan on what to do with them for the last few days.

Saranell stood and leapt off the table gracefully without a sound. The movement in the corner of his eyes was enough to rip Rob from his thoughts. "Where are you going?" He called to the elf's back - her bare back, he noticed, unsure when she took off the shirt, her floral and ivy-like tattoos on display.

"Food. We gathered the food, now let us eat!"

Rob nodded eagerly, his stomach rumbling aggressively. "Sounds good! I hadn't realized how hungry I was." He got up to follow her, but Saranell held up her hand.

"No, Summoner. I am making us food. You will wait here."

Rob sat back down, hesitantly. It was his house, his food, but he felt like he should listen to the girl. He rested back on the couch, not realizing how tired he was either as he quickly passed out.

Only waking long enough to have dinner - a wonderful roast with veggies that Saranell worked hard on - before passing out again, only Saranell was left waiting for her Summoner to wake up again. She looked around the living room, spotting the other two boxes. She knew she had to wear them, they were her mission just as much as protecting the one that called her here. She broke open the last two boxes and looked them over.

Grabbing one skin, she went to the bedroom. It was unoccupied since Rob was sleeping on the couch still. She tossed the skin on the bed, as much as would fit. It was simply massive, as it would have put Sally to shame. Sally’s name had popped into Saranell's head, but it quickly fell back into the sea of tumultuous thoughts that had been plaguing her most of the day as the meaning behind it was lost. Saranell felt her headache returning.

The suit was big. Massive, even. It also didn’t look like any girl Saranell had ever seen or known. The skin was a nebulous black that forsake any notions of depth, as it’s shadows blended the angles and layers of the skin. It was also cold. It didn’t feel like it should be alive, it felt constructed, manufactured. But there was no doubt, something was waiting in the skin to come out.

The skin, laid on its back, seemed to peel open and apart along the central line of the chest. Saranell looked inside of the cavity. Her fingers traced over the oiled surface, noticing that the suit didn’t have arm or leg holes, or even a place for her head to enter. There was just this hollow pocket inside the torso of the massive skin, and to put it on, she’d have to curl up with her knees to her chest and her head tucked in.

She’d be rolled up like a ball, inside of this suit’s stomach. The thought unnerved Saranell. It didn’t matter that it was just a skinsuit, it didn’t matter that she knew she would be fine. It unnerved her to make herself vulnerable to the unknown. She would never have done this, and if it weren’t for her need and compelling drive to serve and please her Summoner she wouldn’t do it now. But here she was, climbing into the pocket of the skin - a skin she still couldn't tell any details about - and sitting down, cross legged.

This was the moment of truth. She laid on her back, arms and legs still outside the suit. The cold slimy oil drenching the inside of this suit unsettled her, seeping into every crack and gap, chilling her flesh. She drew her limbs in, and the walls of the skin crept up on their own, pulling upward and together as they started to fuse back together. The seam was rapidly fading up the strangely hard and bonelike surface of the skin, and stopped when only her head was exposed. Saranell took some deep breaths. There was barely enough room to pull her head in, and then the suit would contain her completely. That would be it then, delving into the infinite darkness that lay inside. She had already lost feeling in her body, barely able to move her limbs with a sluggish strength as the suit seemed almost to be resisting her actions.

Another deep breath. Saranell drew on her memories of hunting in the woods of her forest and of fighting monsters to find the strength to continue. Her memories were confused, mixed with other foreign memories of other girls. Not that it mattered, her strength was her own, and she couldn’t back down from her duties. She would just make this her first memory of strength in this new world. She pulled her head into the suit, the light fading away as the suit rapidly consumed and concealed her, her mind fading into the same pervasive numbness as her body already had.