Short Story Excerpt: Girl Plus WTF, 2

If you're following, I'm writing. Huge organization project so I need this light little break to free-write.

In the last chapter, Ryleigh wakes up in a strange world with extra appendages to boot. Her earthly humor falls flat on the ears of a young maid, Lyta, as she tries to come to grips with suddenly being a VIP in the middle of some pretty serious conflict.

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Ryleigh expelled a heartfelt sigh of relief, slumping her shoulders and dropping her head to her chest as the tension deflated.

And once more came eye-to-eye with god-awful dressing gown. The more she caught sight of it, the more she decided it was the equivalent of Level 1 armor you started a game with. Never mind that it was clearly expensive; why did so many expensive clothes look like camouflage you'd use to blend into your grandmother's couch?

Drawing more breath into her lungs, she tugged at the sleeves, letting it pool to the floor. It was only slightly problematic that she was naked as a jaybird with no alternatives in sight. It was only her and Lyta in the room after all.

Enter two head-to-toe armored soldiers, clanking around like a empty stack of tuna cans, moving mechanically into place flanking Lyta then coming to a halt with the stillness of display armor like she would see in museums.

Only in museums. No one wore metal deathtraps anymore, at least in the land where things made sense.

Yet another inelegant squawk emitted from her mouth and her hands slapped over her eyes. What am I, a toddler? I can't see them, so they can't see me? Shifting her hands over her intimate parts, she wished she had one of those ridiculous helmet visors to hide her embarrassment.

As if to further her stupidity, her wings snapped shut in front of her, a much better barrier than her hands. So much so that she was completely concealed behind a wall of feathers.

Ryleigh didn't quite trust her command of the wings to open just enough to see her unwanted audience, so she released her hands and pushed her wings apart with them, just enough to poke her head out between them.

She glared with reproach at the faceless men that towered over the perpetually bored petite maid between them.

"I... don't suppose you have any normal clothes. I'd rather go n--"

Nnnnnnnnope. She stopped that thought in its tracks. Was she really going to say 'I'd rather go naked than put that hideous nightgown on again'? Yup, and also big nope.

"The Council must be growing impatient. And I came to do just that, Ryleigh. Dress you, that is. A feat that should have been done five minutes ago had you not insisted you're not Queen Ryleigh, but some wingless girl with no sense of duty or urgency."

Lyta stepped forward and spun on the guards.

"Out with you! I can only assume the Council threatened to have your heads on the block if you didn't retrieve her with haste, but I'll not have you dragging our Queen naked before the jackals!"

Lyta swatted at them and the brutes stumbled out like Dorothy's beloved Tin Man as if she were some tyrannical Cyclops rather than a slip of a woman.

Even once, Lyta slammed the door behind them and slapped her hands together as if to brush away the filth. She shuffled over to an ornate wall and flicked her hand, a sparkle of light emitting from it, making swinging doors of the walls, revealing a whole host of ridiculously jeweled dresses.

Ryleigh couldn't help but gravitate towards them, still keeping her wings up in case of more surprise guests, but otherwise slack from awe.

"Oh, I've seen this movie before. If I don't find the plainest one, I'm going to burst into a cloud of dust..."

Lyta clicked her tongue at the latest absurdity.

"If you show up in anything less than one too heavy to fly in, you'll be the laughingstock of the kingdom. Not that anyone would laugh in the face of a Queen..."

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Let's leave the story at that for now. I have to say, I enjoy the hell out of injecting my nerd life into fantasy fiction. A nice break from the epic trials... I'll give the girl a break for now. She's got a lot more hurt coming to her, after all.

In case you stumbled in out of order:
Girl Plus WTF 1 

Next Up:
Girl Plus WTF 3