CHAPTER 248: CHAPTER 248 - FAST PHOTO FRIENDS

She looks over at me with a smile that I absolutely do not envy. That warm, ’thinking about someone important to them’ sort of thing that clueless people get. Or the ones that like to remain blissfully ignorant of what I know to be the nature of all relationships.

"Actually, we’ve been dating on and off for a while now. Met during our courses. Feels like forever."

See? If all else fails, direct communication and questions can tell you so much more than assumptions.

Reaching up, I pat her on the back companionably. Another small test, to satisfy Vrika’s worried curiosity. And just a bit to piss it off even more, because I’m getting tired of it not trusting me in these matters.

"That’s nice. I’m happy you have someone."

"Well... I sort of don’t, currently. Think we’re in a long break up period right now, since I bought yet another character body pillow and forgot to hide it..."

Her eyes dulled with brief sadness, before a sort of creepy smile grew on her face. My arm and whole body pulled away as I took a step out to the side. Not because my test to see how she reacted to the bit of contact failed.

Because she just scored 100% on something I didn’t know I needed to be wary of!

"But she’ll have been at the gym for a few months trying to get over me. Those abs are always hard enough to crack a walnut on when we start dating again. Huhuehehe~"

Humans in this world have a term that I think fits here. At least I cannot think of another.

Yikes.

She seems to know that each attempt is going to lead to messy partings, but she also has a look filled with confidence that they are temporary. Truly, we are not compatible in our head spaces.

Like another switch was flipped, she wiped her mouth and pointed in a direction excitedly, finger stabbing towards some colorful contraption in the corner. When I looked between her and it, unable to figure either of them out...

"Oh, come on! We have to do the purikura. It’s cheesy and ridiculous, but mandatory for the full first time experience."

Stomping forward, she grabbed at my hand and tried to pull me toward it. But my wolf and I found a reason to be companionable again, for a few seconds. When her sudden tug only led to her own hood slinging off her dark hair, she turned and blinked at me.

"Ellie, I am not going into that until you tell me why and what it is."

"...I thought I did, sorry? I forgot this isn’t one of those with all the obvious glamour pictures... It’s a photo booth and-"

With such a magical set of terms, the woman found *me* as the one dragging her toward it. The booth was covered in stickers and cartoon characters, with a small bench inside past a curtain that was only big enough for two people.

Ellie practically pushed me onto the seat and squeezed in beside me, her shoulder pressing against mine as she fed strange coins of a kind I’d never seen into the machine. I was very aware that I’d probably need to use some of that scent neutralizer later.

Her constant casual contact meant I was picking up traces of her scent even through clothes... and while it didn’t bother me that much, not like the smell of one Rimecoat... it might create complications if others think I am especially associated with her pack.

Yes, *she* might be upset too. But that’s actually more reason to leave it alone so you’re not helping the matter.

Floating in my mindscape in this current form, upside down over the top of blue eyes looking up at me, the wolf barks and sends a series of impressions that seem like confusion. As well as something like a request to be nicer?

I was sure I was the one being nice today to lots of people. It’s the one being mean!

...Why? Because then she can look at me with dangerous orange eyes. Like she wants to kill me for daring... and I can tease and calm her down depending on my mood and the timing... how do you not understand what thrills I like yet?

"Okay, so you get four shots on this model."

The Stonewater pack member began to explain to me after she finished studying the screen and tapping buttons. Bringing me fully back to reality. Fully back to the jitters of excitement at seeing how this device takes pictures.

In such a narrow space, it did not fully feel like the wide studio I’d just been in. But the lighting was so bright that I could imagine that the technology here was at least a bit similar.

Wait, hadn’t I come here to get away from fashion? I’ve also taken a ton of pictures already today...

"First one should be normal for a baseline, then we can get progressively sillier. The camera is here and poses will show. Ready?"

"Yes."

On the screen, we could see ourselves and two silhouettes that we were meant to fit into. Truly the first was just sitting beside each other as some sort of countdown in another language began.

At least, that’s what I determined it was after the third was shown and voiced... due to the flash and shutter sound that followed at an interval. The silhouette instructions seemed like they were meant to get normally tense people to learn to loosen themselves quickly.

There wasn’t much time to reset yourself between each one, but that anxious energy to get it right made it all a bit exciting. Pushing those two teens in here would be good fun!

"Perfect! Now for round two... let’s decorate!"

She spoke the phrase over top of the booth’s voice, saying the same thing as it’s accented recording. The screen before us transformed to show the four photos together with a big timer counting down in the corner of the screen.

Tapping on the first image just for a second to look and nod at it, she hit the ’back’ and opened the second. Handing me a ’stylus’ out of nowhere without any real instruction, she started to tap frenetically at the options on the side.

Little ’stamps’ hopped onto the screen that she arranged with finger gestures at the sort of speed that only someone who had done this many times before could ever manage. A set of long pointed ears were soon on top of my head in the preview screen, which is when she began giggling at her handiwork.

"Found the fox ears! They really do suit you better than the wolf ones, I think. Very sly and elegant."

It bothered me just a bit that they were so... orange. I suppose cream is probably unavailable? And it might not look good against this black hair in the first place. But it was better than the brown things stuck to her.

"Why antennae?"

"...Why not?"

She moved to the third photo and I finally started to try things out. Like on her side, there was a touch panel with settings for the lines I could draw with this. But there wasn’t exactly a lot of time to try and be a painter again...

And I wasn’t even sure what to put on an image like this - with a surprised laugh from me captured when she’d made that stupid face!