Two hours later, the Noor and Parker arrived with an assignment in hand to collect ten Black Elder branches suitable for wands, signed off by their Practical Skills professor with the names of all six Witches in the group.
At the moment, the pair were staring at Wolfe in shock, trying to comprehend what he was asking of them after learning that they had unsuccessfully attempted to form an outfit that they liked by themselves.
“Say that to me again. You want me to do what?” Noor asked.
“Strip. I can’t fit you for a new outfit while you’re fully dressed, and you failed three times to make what you wanted before you got here.” Wolfe patiently explained.
“Why don’t we all go first? That way, you have time to build up to it?” Mary suggested, eager to get her chosen outfit made.
All of the amulets were ready, prepped while they waited, and Wolfe had gathered three backpacks filled with supplies, one for him and the others for Mary and Reiko’s assistants, if they were coming, or for Noor and Parker if one wasn’t.
He hadn’t seen Mary’s admirer around in a while, and it was looking like he had moved on once he accepted that she was not going to change her mind about dating men.
Reiko’s butler wasn’t lucky enough to have that choice.
After a few more moments’ consideration, Noor nodded her head and crossed her arms over her chest, like she was hiding her body, despite still being fully dressed.
“Fine, you go first. I think that once I have seen it in action, I might be alright with it. Not that I don’t trust you, Wolfe, but Demons always have an ulterior motive for everything that they do.”
Mary was out of her uniform in seconds and excitedly telling Wolfe about the travel outfit she wanted. Since it was armour, the appearance didn’t matter to the protection, as long as she was covered, but Mary wanted black knee-high boots that folded at the top over gray leggings and a tunic dress that stopped above her knees with big pockets, matching gloves and a wide-brimmed hat.
“You know, if you place the enchantments like this, one point of the star out from each other, you can layer up to five related spells in a single amulet. We are working on that now in Ward Crafting.” Parker suggested.
“In that case, I want a Dark green double-breasted wool coat and matching hat and green leggings.” Mary insisted.
“I can’t use Earth Magic, so I can’t do green or brown. You make those, and I’ll do the black.” Wolfe suggested.
The leggings and the wide-brimmed hat were easy, but because of her insistence that it needed a fur collar and a cute bow tied in the back of the belt, Mary struggled for a while in her attempts to get the coat to look right before declaring her outfit finished.
“Now, both of you at the same time have to insert your willpower into the amulet to affix the spells. If you don’t start the process close enough together, it will only take one of the spells. Multi-casting so that you can do this all by yourself is something that the third-year students are working on.” Parker informed them.
Wolfe raised a hand, counting down from three, and then inscribed the amulet.
Both sets of runes were visible and seemed complete, so Mary released the spell and then brought back her new travel outfit.
“Yes, all that is exposed is my face. This is perfect for travel.” She cheered.
“And you can control the temperature of your armour to some extent so that it will be warm as well,” Parker replied.
“You look like an heiress in the pre-war movies, out on the town and hiding from the paparazzi.” Noor giggled, then ran into the shower room to remove her uniform, returning in a towel.
“Alright, I’m ready. But if I had been thinking, I should have brought my swimsuit to wear under the spell.” She declared, turning away from Wolfe as she dropped the towel and raised her hands to cover herself.
“So what do you need?” Wolfe asked.
“I love Mary’s boots, so keep those, but with black leather pants, a red tunic dress and a black leather coat. You can use fire, right?”
Wolfe nodded, then realized she couldn’t see him. “Yes, that’s not a problem. How about like this?”
Wolfe spent a few seconds mentally perfecting the look of the linen tunic dress to show a hint of cleavage in the opened collar, but with a faintly visible mist of fire in the gap so that her chest wasn’t actually exposed to damage or the elements, and added a fitted leather bomber jacket with a fleece hood in the fashion of the punk rock fans back in the city, minus the hundreds of pins and patches they added.
“Oh, that is cute. I didn’t picture Noor as that sort.” Ella agreed, giving Wolfe a thumbs up.
“I was thinking more of a leather duster, but this is good too. It won’t get caught on branches and stuff.” Noor agreed, looking herself over in the mirror.
Wolfe completed the amulet and handed it over, then turned to Parker, who was looking suspiciously at the amulet that Wolfe had created. She had just mentioned that the Witches didn’t learn that until the third year, but he had done it so naturally like it was no trouble for him to have multiple spells active at the same time without a talisman or amulet.
But she had a Demon Familiar, and they were always full of surprises. Out of caution, she chose not to say anything about it now so that he wouldn’t get distracted by teasing her about something that she couldn’t do but he could. Her Imp would definitely tease her until she ordered him to shut up.
“What’s your choice?”
“You know, we’re going to look like the cast of a bad adventure movie, right? But we might as well match. Give me the same boots, with leather pants and a corset. I will add a silk blouse and hooded cloak.” She replied, getting herself ready to be styled.
The outfit was ready in seconds, then Wolfe smiled and adjusted the corset a little in style.
“Oh, like the Vampire Slayer girl from that movie. I love it.”
“I thought we were going out into the woods and risking our lives for precious materials, not going to a cosplay event,” Reiko complained.
“There’s no need to look like security guards in bland generic armour. Now, what can I do for you?” Wolfe asked.
“She stole my idea.”
With Reiko’s prodigious chest and that corset, that outfit would look incredible on her, so Wolfe cast the exact same thing as soon as she was ready.
“Damn, Wolfe. You could at least wait until she forms the shirt first. That is hot.” Ella cheered, making Reiko blush tomato red.
Mary gave him a subtle thumbs up while Wolfe added a burgundy blouse and dark gray hooded cloak, completing the outfit with just Fire and Unholy Armor.
“How about that? Not too bright for the outdoors, but with a splash of colour.”
“Not bad. But did you have to start without the shirt?” Reiko pouted.
Ella stepped up to go next. “Yes. Yes, he did, and the look on your face was amazing. Since we have two vampire hunters already, I want to change it up. Do you know the biker gangs on the middle levels?
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Wolfe laughed at the thought of Ella as a biker chick, then realized that since her family ran a mechanic’s shop in the middle levels, she had likely spent her whole life around them.
“Start with the blue jeans, and I’ll do the rest.” Wolfe agreed. He finished the look, then Ella added a long bandana, the same colour as her light blue hair, tied around her head since the outfit would otherwise lack a helmet.
That only left Cassie.
“I really don’t know. I never watched many movies about the outside.” She stammered. Wolfe caught a flash of what she was thinking, and it was a lot like Mary’s outfit, but with a heavier wool dress and black hat.
“I know what you want. You do the coat and tights. I’ll do the boots and dress.”
“The outfits are almost the same. Why does Mary look cute and innocent, while Cassie looks like a Mafia princess?” Noor asked.
“I blame Mary’s pink hair. It shaves like five years off her apparent age. Even if they switched amulets, they would still give the same impression.” Reiko suggested.
“Should we tell the guys?” Parker asked, pointing to the bags.
“Um, I lost mine. Apparently, he thinks boobs are better than fluffy things, so he moved on to some Witch in the regular class.” Mary informed them.
“That’s fine. You’ve got us, and we’ve got Reiko’s Butler to carry one of the bags.” Wolfe shrugged.