Celine, priestess-class adventurer, was in a bit of a sour mood. The quest had so far gone well; they were clearing a bandit group that had taken up residence in an abandoned dungeon and were harasssing travelers on the nearby road. That much was pretty normal. She’d gotten used to the violence of adventuring a long time ago, so that wasn’t what was annoying her. What annoyed her was that the bandits had all tried to focus her down. Which was admittedly smart tactics, but it had gotten her companions, Knight-class adventurer Reginald (or ‘Reggie’ as friends called him) and the thief Kal to fuss over her like a defenseless child. 

    Sure, she was a healer; she didn’t really have that much answer if an enemy got right up in her face. Celine wasn’t stupid, she knew she needed to be protected during a fight, it was basic battle tactics. But that didn’t mean she had to be treated like a delicate little flower outside of battle!

    She didn’t actually say this. No, they’d get mad at her wouldn’t they? She couldn’t do that. It was a stupid hangup, she knew that well enough, but not one she’d easily get over after living in a convent so strict that sitting n the wrong way (“inviting sin”) would get you punished. 

    So she let Reggie and Kal go into every room first, keeping themselves between her and potential threats, and also between her and purely imagined threats. It made the remainder of the dungeon slow going but hopefully they’d be done soon, and then by the next adventure they’d forget to do this kind of nonsense. 

    The lead bandit went down surprisingly quick - it turned out, even big bad brigands weren’t very resistant to knives in the back, as Kal snuck into the room and sliced him with a knife coated in sleeping poison. The comically huge man was snoring soundly, hands and ankles bound with manacles, when Celine and Reggie entered the room. 

    Celine sighed as the last door lead only to a treasure room. “Gods, I’m glad this is over…” she said. 

    “I bet. It’s dangerous fighting people who would try to hurt someone as vulnerable as you.” Reggie answered, apparently completely unaware of how condescending he sounded. That was the problem with musclehead types - they never actually thought about how their words would sound. 

    Celine just rolled her eyes and went to the big chest in the center - of course it wasn’t trapped, or else the boss wouldn’t be able to stash his loot, right? So she opened it and found mostly the expected; gold, a few bits of jewelry. The particularly valuable goods from all the caravans that had been looted passing through the area recently. And something weird looking.

    Taking the object out of the chest, it turned out to be something that could, if one were feeling very generous, be considered clothes. It was mostly made of leather straps and very short shorts, with a few armor plates bolted on and a bunch of buckles all around it. It looked, well, a lot like what all the bandits had been wearing. However, touching it, Celine was fairly sure it was magic. 

    “Well, that’s an interesting bit of kit…” Kal said, walking over and inspecting the gear. “Enchanted, right?” He had some enchanted gear of his own - a small spyglass that could detect magic if he looked through it. “Seems to be mostly protective stuff, and some strength increasing. Something else too, but I’m pretty sure those are the main effects.” 

    Celine shrugged, offering it to him. 

    “What? No, I can’t wear that.” he shook his head, “Even if it’s probably pretty protective, it shows so much skin that my pale ass would stick out like a candle in the dark.” 

    “And my own armor is strong enough as is.” Reggie said. 

    “Ha! Maybe you should wear it, it might mean we don’t have to guard you as much!” Kal laughed at his own joke.

    Celine, for her part, was just pissed. You know what? She’ll make them eat those words. She took the outfit and stalked back to the bandit boss’ room while the others looted. 

    A few minutes later, they came out with their packs filled with gold and gems to see Celine stuffing her robes into her bag… and wearing the new outfit. She blushed furiously as the two men had their jaws drop. She felt a bit of satisfaction at that, but it was still embarrassing. Celine wasn’t well versed in the world outside a convent, but this much she got - men made fools of themselves for attractive women. She didn’t actually think of herself as attractive, although her sisters had always said she was cute; not very tall, pale skin, long blonde hair, pale blue eyes and a cherubic face, they claimed she was the essence of purity. Well, she didn’t much care for that, but seeing the two dumbfounded by the new clothing was reward enough. 

    “W-Well, let’s get going!” Celine said quickly, before she could think about how embarrassing this was. 

    The next day the trio had finally made it back to the guild, turned in the bandit boss and any other prisoners, and got paid. And, as was tradition, they went out to get rip-roaring drunk. Or well, Reggie and Kal went and got drunk, and Celine watched them so they didn’t get ruined as a result. It was honestly kinda boring, but well, that was how things went; it was pretty much the norm for adventurers as a whole.

    “Do you have to drink so much?” she asked, “You’re going to burn through all the gold we just got.”

    “Hahaha!” Kal laughed, raising a mug high, “Another round for the house!” As the rest of the drinkers cheered, he turned to Celine. “You can’t put a price on a good time, goody two shoes.” 

    Reggie, for his part, was already face down on the table. “Rightsh. Cants put a pryce on a time…” he slurred. The bigger man was… well, despite his size, he couldn’t hold his liquor. “Yous… youshould try it, Celly, hehe…” 

    “Ha! She won’t touch the stuff. Too good and holy for that!” 

    Something about that bothered her, a lot. She adjusted the straps on the enchanted outfit she wore - she was still embarrassed about it, but kinda less now. Maybe because the environment, while it had a lot of people, those people didn’t know her. There were also some people in similar outfits; enchanted gear didn’t tend to care much about what it covered. But right then, what bothered her was all the ‘too good for this’ stuff. Yeah, she was pretty good, she thought. But she wasn’t some holier than thou type, she just didn’t like the taste! 

    “You know what?” she said, “Fine then.” She raised a hand, and the server came over and handed her a mug of something. “You bought a round for the house, so that includes me. A ‘goody two shoes’ can’t exactly refuse that generosity can she?” she said, taking the mug with both hands and trying to chug it. 

    This turned out to be a mistake - the alcohol burned her throat all the way down to her gut, and she was left coughing and sputtering, spilling what was left. Kal, and some others, laughed but raised their mugs in salute to the attempt. “Good try, but you don’t have to force yourself-” 

    “That was for the first of the three rounds you got.” Celine said, “And now the next one-” she clapped a hand over her mouth as she held back some rising vomit. “...Next one, I said.” she said after a while.

    Reggie just giggled drunkenly on the table in response, while Celine got another mug, and then another. They went down similarly to the first, although she was still able to stay standing after them, which was impressive for a lightweight like her. “I’msh…” she started, but shook her head. “I’m… going up to the room.” she said. 

    “...Look, I’m sorry, Celine, I shouldn’t have-” Kal started, but Celine was already walking away with only a slight stagger. 

    Oddly enough, as she dragged herself up the steps to her room, she found herself noting that she’d enjoyed that. Which was weird, she usually hated booze - maybe the barkeep had gotten some new stock in that was to her taste? 

    It was a few days later, and the party had reassembled for another quest, as they did indeed start to burn through the stocks of gold. They’d met up as normal, picked a quest, all that… but Reggie was sure he was missing something.

    Celine seemed… different, somehow. She’d shown up in the bandit-looking outfit they’d looted, saying it was surprisingly comfortable and more protective than what she’d been wearing before. Which, well, power to her. But she was also acting differently, a point illustrated as, instead of giving Reggie a heal to help him withstand the incoming attack from a giant hammer-wielding skeleton, she came in from the side and knocked the skeleton’s head off with a swing of her staff.

    As the skeleton stumbled and started pawing at the ground looking for his head, Reggie just kinda stared at her. He’d never noticed before, but, well, she was kinda built - the armor had a strength boost, but that would be the enchantment and not a physical change, right? So that meant under the piles of cloth she had a fairly well toned body all that time. “Nice swing?” he managed.

    “Thanks!” she said cheerfully, “I’ve been practicing - I can’t just stand back and let you take all the hurt, can I?”

    Reggie nodded. “Well… I appreciate the thought, but don’t you think healing would help that too?” 

    Celine stared at him for a few moments, then back down at her staff, then back at him. “...Oh, right! Sorry, sorry!” she stammered, sounding a bit more like her normal self as she applied the healing and Reggie’s wounds stitched themselves shut. “Man, I shouldn’t have forgotten that…” 

    As Celine went off to finish the skeleton - something even a priestess could do, due to the holy magic’s interaction with the undead - Kal walked up to Reggie. “You think something’s… weird, with Celine lately?”

    “What do you mean?”

    “Well, this whole dungeon,” Kal started, looking as Celine stomped the skull of the skeleton into dust, “She’s been a lot more… let’s say confrontational. Not hanging back as much.” 

    “I think she just feels bad about letting us do all the frontline work.” Reggie said. “Or at least, she sounds like it.” 

    Kal looked at the underdressed priestess, watching her systematically make sure none of the skeleton was capable of moving anymore. “...Yeah, sure.”

    Reggie wasn’t complaining, really - as long as she remembered her healing abilities, she could play golf with all the skeleton heads she wanted. 

    The next time they met up in the tavern, Kal nearly spit out his drink when the priestess came in. He’d thought Celine was acting and looking different before, but this was another beast entirely. She was wearing the outfit, as usual - but now she had started to actually fit it. Her hair had been cut short, and didn’t seem so bright a blonde. She had somehow acquired a scar on her cheek - it looked kinda cute on her actually, but he wasn’t sure what she’d done to get it. Had he just never noticed? She also had some fairly solid abs, and a huge hammer slung over her back. But the biggest change for his money was her bearing. She’d always been a bit reserved, prudish. But now she had a swaggering confidence to her. She looked less like a priestess, more like a barbarian-class or something. 

    “Celine?” he asked as she sat down and waved down a waiter.

    “Kal! When’s the next quest? I kinda… spent all my cash, ehehe.” Celine still sounded kinda like herself, but… less reserved? 

    “What… what on?”

    “Well, I had to kinda restock on a bunch of gear after the last couple quests. The staff just wasn’t doing the job, you know? So…” she indicated the massive hammer, “New, uh, casting focus.” There was a crystal on the handle, but… well, it looked secondary. 

    “Well… if you say so.” Kal said after a while.

    Reggie, for his part, was trying not to stare too hard. Celine noticed, though - and she winked. What on earth was wrong with her? 

    “...And what’s with the look?” Kal asked.

    “What look?” Celine cocked her head in confusion. She hadn’t a clue what he was talking about. 

    “...Right.” 

    Celine shrugged, and took a mug from the waiter who’d just arrived, downing it in one gulp and calling for another. 

    Another adventure later, and Celine was feeling great. She hadn’t done a ton of healing again, but well, they hadn’t needed it with her bashing in the enemies! She had more fun in that time than she had ever before in her adventuring career, and was planning to celebrate! She had been so repressed before, which had drawn some mockery as much as it did praise, and she didn’t know what had changed but she was feeling really… free, lately. Was it because she tried that booze the one time? A little kick of rebellion and now she was spiraling out of it?

    Maybe she should have been concerned at the change. Her hair was red, and her eyes had followed suite. She was taller and had a set of abs you could grind meat on. She wasn’t blind; she had noticed, but she liked screwing with Kal so she pretended she didn’t. But what she wasn’t pretending was that she couldn’t bring herself to care. She felt good. 

    When she came into the tavern this time, she had registered a classification change to barbarian. ‘Priestess’ just wasn’t her anymore. Celine was an up front brawler, one who could hold her own in a fight and give out way worse than she got. She wouldn’t hide herself anymore - she’d be boisterous and let everyone know exactly what she thought. Which is why when she burst into the tavern, she walked right over to Reggie.

    “H-H-Hi, Celine, looking very nice today! Did you do something with your ha- mmmph!” The usually confident knight had been having trouble around her recently, and she was sheltered but not stupid. She knew what that meant - and so she interrupted him with a kiss. 

    She went all in, hungrily pushing herself against him. Then she withdrew, grinning like a madwoman. “Hey, Reggie. Got a minute, or a hundred? I think we’ve got some things to talk about. Party stuff. Upstairs.” 

    Reggie blinked, then stared in shock. “I, uh, w-w-w-” he stammered, before Celine just grabbed him and started dragging him to the stairs. 

    She was going to take every advantage of this new, free version of herself, and that started with all the experiences she’d denied herself up to this point. Also, Reggie was cute.