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Oboro wiped the sweat off her brow and gazed upon her newest piece proudly. It was a Hoshidan samurai’s garb, but adorned with the colors and designs of Askr, a line of them commissioned by the Queen herself. If she had to be honest, she thought she outdid herself with this one. Next, she was going to need to find someone to model it, and Oboro smiled when a certain grumpy swordsman popped into her mind.
Felix had been her fashion model for a while now, thanks to a bet that she won via dueling. Not only had Felix gone along with it this long, even with the mass amounts of complaining, Oboro had grown quite fond of him, in more ways than one.
Suddenly, she heard a knock. “Coming!” She called out. Oboro walked over and opened her door, revealing the Blue Lions’ Felix, looking even more serious than usual.
“Oh hey Felix.” Oboro said with a grin. “Excited about my next outfit for you already huh-”
“I want a duel.” Felix quickly said. “If I win, I’m done being your little fashion model.”
Oboro took in what he was saying and looked at him curiously. “Okay? Why bring this up now though?”
The previous day
“Felix, I have a question.” Ingrid said as she and Felix finished up a spar.
“What is it now?” Felix asked, already getting ready for the next round.
“Does Oboro have you…whipped?”
Felix paused and stared at Ingrid, incredibly confused. “Whipped? Well she’s a slave driver when she’s getting me to model but she’s not physically hurting me if that's what you're asking.”
“No, no it’s a phrase. Uhhh...how should I explain this…” Ingrid looked over to her girlfriend, Catria, who was watching over their spar from the sidelines. “How did the Summoner describe it as?”
“When you basically do anything and everything your girlfriend tells you to, no questions asked.” Catria called out.
Ingrid turned back to Felix and excitedly nodded. “Yeah that!”
Felix stared at the two of them blankly for a few moments, and then his face shifted to one of disgust. “Okay, first. Oboro is not my girlfriend and we’ve done nothing to even suggest it, and therefore, she does not have me...whipped.”
"You've gone on double dates with me and Catria, with Oboro though..."
"Oboro and I were only tagging along, separately."
“Wait Felix.” Catria said. “If I remember correctly, you and Oboro went on that one mission a couple weeks back, and you both were kind of…awkward after it.”
Felix’s face darkened. He remembered that mission clearly. He and Oboro went to protect a village from bandit attacks, and Felix attempted to take out their camp by himself. Oboro accompanied him, and after they were victorious and retreated to a cave for shelter from the rain, they argued over the danger of the plan.
“I could tell they were weak. I could’ve taken them on my own just fine.”
“The hell you could have, Felix! And I’m not going to just stand aside while you get yourself killed.”
“Hmph, so you wouldn’t have to find a new model for your outfits, I assume.”
“No, because I care about you, you idiot!”
They went silent for a moment, before crashing their lips together in a passionate kiss, their respective guards and clothing being shed not long after. They spent the night in that cave, and Oboro did things to Felix that he sure as hell wasn’t about to recount to Ingrid.
“Nothing happened.” Felix muttered.
“Okay…” Ingrid wasn’t really convinced but she continued on. “Well whenever Oboro needs a fashion model, she goes to you. And you always seem to accept for some reason.”
“She’s right." Catria chimed in. "You don’t even say no to any of the things she asks you to wear. There was the yukata during the summer festival, the suit at Lyn and Azura’s wedding, the Santa suit…”
“We made a deal regarding a duel, and she won.” Felix said. “That’s all there is to it, I’m just holding up my end.”
“It's been over a year since then Felix. Besides, if she got you into this by winning a duel, wouldn’t you just be able to win your way out of this?” Ingrid noted.
“Yeah, I’m surprised you haven’t just challenged her to win your freedom back.” Catria added.
“That’s…I…” Felix stuttered a bit, unsure on how to explain the revelation he just had. “...I gotta go.” He began to speed out of the training room, only stopped when he reached the door. He was silent for a moment before turning around and exclaiming, "You're whipped!", and stormed out of the room.
Ingrid and Catria both began to giggle. “He’s totally whipped.” Ingrid said.
Oboro was a bit taken back by the whole thing, and maybe trying to hold in laughter. “You know, I really expected you to have done this when we first started, so it hadn’t even crossed my mind lately that you might want out. I just thought you'd finally accepted the idea of being Askr's top model. ” She smirked. “That said, you’re on.”
The two headed to one of the private dueling rooms and began their bout. Much like their first duel, Oboro had the weapon advantage. Her spear had better reach and was absolutely relentless, leaving Felix on the defensive for most of the duel.
But Felix was far better than he was the day he first lost against Oboro. He’s fought plenty of spars against the top swordsmen in the Order to evolve his own swordplay. He’s trained constantly against Ingrid and Catria to better understand how to fight spear and lance wielders. Finally, he spent plenty of time watching Oboro closely…her fighting style that is. He knew her strengths, her weaknesses, and her tells. Now it was time to put all of that into action.
Felix baited her into letting out an extremely powerful thrust of her spear. He sidestepped it by mere centimeters and quickly sped towards her to counter. She was unable to pull her spear back in time and Felix only needed one swipe of his sword to disarm her and send it flying.
Both of them seemed surprised at this turn of events. “I won?” Felix said in disbelief. He then grinned. “Hah, I won! I’m free!”
“Seems like it.” Oboro replied. For a moment she seemed downtrodden, but she just sighed and shrugged. “Well, congratulations Felix. It’s a bit disappointing to lose you, but I’m a woman of my word. You don’t worry about having to model for me anymore. I’ll just find someone else to do it.” She made her way towards the door. “Catch you later.” she said before leaving.
Felix pumped his fist in victory. However, the thrill of finally beating Oboro soon faded, and an unexplainable emptiness overcame him. What’s more, one part of Oboro’s goodbye bothered him a bit more than it should’ve.
“I’ll just find someone else to do it?”
The next day, Felix strolled around the castle courtyards, appreciating his newfound free time. Usually at this time, he’d be in Oboro’s room, trying on whatever piece of “fashion” she’d come up with. However, now he was free to do whatever he wanted. “Hmm, should I try to get an extra spar in with those Greil Mercenaries, or…”
As Felix pondered his next course of action, he noticed a pair off in the distance. He squinted a bit, and saw Oboro talking with the Isaachian swordsman Scathach. He moved a bit closer, and could overhear their conversation.
“Hey Scáthach, has anyone ever told you that you got the looks to be a model?” Oboro said.
“A model? R-Really?” Scáthach replied, not quite believing Oboro’s words. “I don’t know about that…”
“Come on, you’re a good looking guy. Got it on good word that a bunch of the girls around the Order think so too.” Oboro teased. “And what would make your looks really pop are the clothes I designed. I’ve got a spot open for someone to try out my new outfits, so if you’re interested, let me know!”
Oboro shot him a wink and then walked away, leaving Scáthach to ponder her offer. “Me as a fashion model, huh?” He found himself smiling at the thought. “That does sound fun…”
“Don’t do it.” Felix sternly said, suddenly appearing behind him.
“O-Oh, uh, hey Felix. Why not?” Scáthach asked.
“Oboro won’t give you any rest. She’ll force you to wear the most ridiculous outfits. Yukatas, pompous suits, Santa outfits.”
“I mean, those don’t sound particularly bad. I was actually curious about wearing a yukata myself-”
Felix’s hands clasped Scáthach’s shoulders tightly. “Don’t. Do. It.” Felix glared into Scáthach's eyes, as if he was trying to burn this message into his mind.
“Uhhh…okay?”
Scáthach left, unsure and a little scared about Felix’s behavior. And as he disappeared, Felix fell to the ground in despair. “Oh Seiros…what am I doing…”
A bit later, Oboro heard a knock on her door. “Coming!” She opened it, only to be greeted by Felix. She stared at him blankly for a moment, before breaking out into a smug smile. “I just knew you’d be back.”
“Shut up.” Felix said before entering the room and closing the door behind him.
Oboro chuckled and leaned up to peck him on the lips before walking over to her latest outfit. “Well, like I mentioned before, I’ve got a new set of armor that would look great on you..."
Felix sighed as he followed behind her, conceding to himself that Ingrid was right.
Oboro really did have him whipped.