Uh... y-yeah! I don't see why not. It's not any more revealing than what I have right now. It'll be fine. Definitely! Even if it's not, it's for the sake of the event. I'll take you somewhere to change and you can give me the outfit.
A future Ai immediately appears in front of them.
[NPC] AiNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
WH-?!
[NPC] AiDON'T YOU DARE PUT THAT ON!
Wh-why no-
[NPC] AiI CHANGED MY MIND! IT'S A BAD IDEA! THAT'S ALL THAT NEEDS TO BE SAID! TRUST ME!
Okay okay I trust you! Thanks for letting me know about whatever bullet it was I dodged.
[NPC] NaruWait, if you went back to warn your past self and changed history, what's going to happen to your future se-
The future Ai and the present Ai suddenly get yanked into each other as their timelines merge. A single Ai stands disoriented in-between where the previous two Ai's stood. The Paradox Bandit around her neck grows another clock face, not that anyone is able to tell from the dozens of clock faces littering the surface like a blinged-out PDA.
Holy crap I'm never gonna get use to that...
[NPC] NaruAi! Are you okay?! Wh-what the hell just happened?!
Don't worry! Don't worry! I'm fine!...We just assimilated our timelines together, that's all. It doesn't quantum-lock me, thankfully. Don't ask me how, I can't remember the code off the top of my head. Trust me, I'm OK. This happens to me all the time.
[NPC] ZarathBut... Wait... That's never happened to anyone else who's history gets changes.
To make a long story short...
it was one of the first lines of code I programmed for myself while modifying this thing. I haven't been able to patch it because the infrastructure is too delicate to touch. I could risk even worse bugs popping up.
[NPC] NaruOh... Well okay...
Then, do you know what happened that made you go back and alter history?
You... you don't need to know... It was a mistake and I regret ever thinking it was a good idea.
Naru and Zarath's Paradox Bandits both grow another clock face. Whatever future Ai changed is preserved within them and combined with Naru and Zarath's current memories.
[NPC] NaruAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
[NPC] ZarathAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
What?! What's wro-
AW CRAP I DIDN'T THINK ABOUT THE PARADOX BANDITS!!![NPC] ZarathAI WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! Were you seriously going to go out in public like that?!
[NPC] NaruYou're lucky the only witnesses were the three of us. What if that happened in front of an entire crowd?
Okay, in hindsight...!
that outfit obviously wasn't designed for women![NPC] ZarathYou think!?
Okay! Okay! How about this? What if we add something onto it? I've got a shirt on me we can use.
Ai tries to add a buttoned-up shirt to the outfit. The effect immediately turns off. Zarath starts to freeze and takes off the shirt. The effect reactivates.
......
REALLY?! You need to have
just the outfit equipped for the effect to go off?!
[NPC] ZarathWho would design an enchantment like this?!
Zymalians? ...Present company excluded?
You know what? Forget it. This isn't worth it. You win. We'll go back to the mansion and have you change. I'm just...
I've been all over the place the last few hours. I went to take Future Naru back home, got some sleep, had to speak with Anetic about a security force for the event, then I had to train the new chef I hired and show him around the kitchen, and I
still have so much more on my plate right now... but I'm here to let you know we're serving lunch in the dining room. If you two are hungry we can grab something to eat and then go hang out at Soup Con. Sound good?
[NPC] NaruAnything to forget about what happened in the last fifteen minutes.