Got another Omake coming at 'cha. However, I'm renaming them to Banters in the spirit of Octopath. I'd say this one is….semi-canon.

"Hey, Nene?"

"Yes, Ochette?"

"Why were you buying lacy underwear today?"

Thronè spit out her drink, inadvertently spraying Agnea who was sitting across from her at their tavern table. On her other side, Castti chuckled at the scene. The four women were currently finishing dinner in the back corner of a Montwise tavern. The men had gone for a 'night on the town'.

"Were you spying on me?!" Thronè exclaimed, reaching over and tugging Ochette's ears with a bright red face.

"I do admit that it's a bit of a personal buy…." Agnea said, summoning a wind spell and blowing herself dry, an amused expression on her face. "Sorry, Ochette but I agree with Thronè here. I'd be self-conscious and embarrassed as well if someone saw me buying that.

"I didn't know," Ochette cried trying to swat Thronè's hands away. "I just don't understand why someone would buy underwear with all those frills and lace in it."

Castti finally stopped laughing and poked Thronè in the ribs. "Cut her some slack, she's still new to our world."

At her words, Thronè let go and relaxed back into her seat, still fuming but realizing that Castti was right.

"Thanks, Ma," Ochette said, now rubbing her ears in relief.

Castti's eyebrow quirked a tad as it usually did at the nickname. "No problem, Ochette. To answer your question; she wants to look good."

"Why would it matter if underwear looks good or not? Not like it's supposed to be seen."

"Ah. But she wa—" Castti found herself quickly muffled by Thronè's hand.

"Apothecaries talk too much. So, what sort of underwear do beastlings wear, if that's the case." Thronè said, diverting the subject and ignoring Castti's stare.

Ochette put a finger to her chin in thought. "Loincloths and some type of chest bindings if necessary. Though some female beastlings have started wearing knickers and corsets after talking to the human women."

"Which ones do you wear? Since you want to be nosy about other people's stuff."

Ochette gave a toothy grin. "Sarashi wrap and a loincloth of course. Knickers don't take my tail into account unless I wear 'em low." She wagged her tail to prove her point. "But then it's so uncomfortable because I move around a lot. Corsets are just too itchy. Sarashi wrap is enough to keep my boingy bits in place when I run and jump."

"Boingy bits?"

"Yeah, boingy bits. Because they go boing. Duh. You of all people should know Nene."

Castti found herself impressed that somehow Thronè's face got even redder.

"Make sense," Agnea said, drawing everyone's attention onto herself. "The underwear parts. Not—Not the boingy bits part." She hastily corrected upon feeling the curious gazes of Thronè and Castti.

"What do you wear Agnea?" Ochette asked, innocence sparking in her eyes.

"Yes. Do tell."

Agnea sweated under Thronè's dark tone leaving no room to escape. She instantly regretted opening her mouth. She spared a glance at Castti to see she was struggling not to laugh. No help would be coming from her.

"Well—I—I…Don't laugh at me, okay?"

"We wouldn't. This stays between us girls." Castti said with the other two nodding in solemn agreement.

"…I wear a thong."

"….."

Thronè was the first to comment. "I didn't expect something so bold from you."

"I don't know why but I expected you to say something like Pantaloons or Bloomers," Castti agreed.

"Isn't that basically the same as a loincloth? Why not just wear that?"

"Gods no," Agnea said, looking at both Ochette and Castti. She put a hand to her cheek and turned away. "Dancing is about the visual aspect. Underwear lines attract attention to my bottom instead of my actual dance moves, the less of them the better. If I'm wearing a leotard or tights, I wouldn't wear underwear at all for that reason."

"Ooh, kinky."

Agnea ignored the comment and her red face in order to continue explaining. "Traveling so much along with all the fighting we do, not to mention this big poofy dress, has made wearing underwear non-negotiable. Normally I'd wear seamless ones made by my own father, but he's not around right now, so thongs are the best and cheapest option."

"What about your breasts?" Thronè asked.

"Oh, that's easy, support is built into the dresses I wear most of the time. When it isn't, or the dress feels uncomfortable, I put tape on my nipples to keep them from chaffing."

The other three girls let out hums of understanding.

"I never would have thought such meticulousness went into dancing like that." Castti said enlightened.

"If you are, that means we've failed in getting you to focus on our dance moves." Agnea reasoned.

"Okay, now it's your turn, Ma."

Castti's face slackened in surprise upon the question being turned on her.

"Me?"

"Yes, you," Thronè said with a trace of vindictiveness in her voice. "Doesn't feel so good to be put on the spot huh?" Thronè whispered loud enough for only Castti to hear.

"I don't wear anything too exciting like the rest of you. Just wool knickers, a corset, and sometimes a girdle, because as far as I can tell, I worked in the cold a lot. Also helps keep me insulated when I use ice magic."

Agnea and Thronè seemed to accept the answer she had given. Ochette was the only one who looked unimpressed.

"Ma, why are you lying?"

Castti froze in her tracks. Thronè eyebrows disappeared underneath her bangs.

"Ochette what do you mean?"

"It's weird. About an hour or so after Nene, I saw you go to the same store and buy the exact same set of frilly underwear. 'Cept yours was white compared to Nene's black."

For the first time that night, Castti's face went bright red. She could feel the scowl Thronè was sending her way. Hesitantly she turned to Thronè, and she could tell that the thief's woman's intuition was kicking in as her face flipped from anger to surprise realization, then her eyes narrowed, and her face settled into what she could describe as fierce competitiveness.

"That reminds me," Ochette continued. "No one answered my question on why it matters if underwear looks good or not?"

Castti opened her mouth, but Thronè beat her to the punch.

"The reason why Castti bought that underwear is that she wants to—"

A sudden covering of ice over her lips prematurely ended her sentence. Thronè tugged at the magical gag futility while Castti smirked at her. Across the table, Agnea sighed.

"What Thronè was trying to say is that she bought the underwear s o— e—"

"Um. I can't really understand you, Ma. You're speaking too slow."

Castti felt a jangling on her wrist and slowly looked down to see she was now shackled to the chair. The thief's class speed spell was slowing her speech. When she looked up, she saw that even though Thronè couldn't move her lips, her eyebrows portrayed her smug look.

"Is there something I should know about?" Ochette said, utterly confused having watched the whole sequence of events.

Agnea decided to put an end to it. "Ochette, since they keep getting in each other's way, I'll explain to you." The huntress leaned forward in anticipation. "The kind of underwear they bought is called lingerie. It's specifically designed to look attractive to your p—-mate. In this case, I think it's the same person which is why they're so adamant about it."

"Okay I get it now, they're competing for Ren by looking good!"

Ochette then turned to the two women who had now both slumped in defeat. "You both could have just told me ya'know. I'm not a little kid who doesn't understand these things."

Agnea couldn't help but laugh and snort at the silliness of the situation. "I wonder…do the guys talk about stuff like this?"

"Heck yeah, they do" Ochette replied instantly, her tail wagging excitedly. "So, get this I was up in the rafters yesterday taking a nap when the guys came in to play that ball and stick game."

"Oh, boy…."

Agnea put a palm to her head in exasperation as Ochette eagerly leaned over the table to explain what she heard. Girl's Night certainly proved to be interesting when you had people from different countries and professions.

AN:

A weird one I know. Inspiration strikes in the oddest ways. It came from a combination of the Futaba line in P5 and a general interest in researching different cultures and eras.

This Banter is actually historically accurate for the most part; even down to the verbiage! That's why you didn't see the word "panties". And I'm knowledgeable on women's underwear now….That being said, the thong depends on who you ask. It was patented in 1974 and became popular in the 90's however some say it debuted at the World Fair in 1934, which does fit in the hodgepodge called Octopath Traveler 2.

Anyways, the purpose of this Omake is to at least put something out. I currently have 3/6 chapters done for the interlude arc(haven't even started heavy revisions and editing). So, I'm going to need another month. In part is because the interlude arc is proving to have massive chapters. The first chapter is 10k, the next two are 15k+ and I don't see the latter 3 chapters being smaller.

Here's an excerpt/sneak peek so you can have a little taste of what's cooking.

A majestic white lion with tribal tattoos on his back walked through the jungle. His booming voice let all know of his presence. On his back sat a small girl, her silvery hair didn't hide the pair of wolf ears that lay flat on her head out of sleepiness. Her bushy tail wagged absently as she buried her claws into the lion's fur and snuggled her head in the grove of his back.

"Your family has bore the time-honored tradition of producing the sacred hunter blessed by Draefendi herself. Destined to be the guardian and protector of Toto'haha. Before you, it was your mother, and before her, it was your grandmother."

The young girl yawned. Juvah had to suppress a smile to keep a serious demeanor. Ten-year-olds needed sleep after all. On some level, it was unfair of him to drag her out to the ruins so early in the morning; the sun hadn't even risen yet.

Like one of those newfangled machines, Castti was whirring away, plucking parts of plants to put in her mortar while mumbling incoherently to herself. If anyone but another apothecary stumbled upon the scene, Malaya figured there was a fair chance she could be committed to an asylum.

"Hey, boss," receiving no reply, Malaya clapped her hands next to Castti's face as she walked past. Unsurprisingly, she ignored that too. Left with no other choice, Malaya braced herself and yanked Castti's arm. The moment she did, she blinked and found the floor and ceiling had reversed themselves. Thankfully, Malaya had prepared herself mentally and righted back to her feet before she could hit the ground.

"Nice, hip toss."

In spite of the action, Castti still had the mortar in her palm and the pestle in between her fingers. "Malaya! You know better than to do that."

Malaya casually brushed off her clothes and sat on one of the piles of bricks that were stacked to serve as pots and barriers. "Sue me. I had to do it to get your attention. You were off in your own little world again."

"Working that long?"

"Working that long."

Castti sat down next to her and deposited her tools beside her.

"You have blood on your boots by the way," Castti commented.

"Oh. Sorry." Malaya produced a flask and poured it on her boots, in the process making Castti roll her eyes due to the fact they were technically indoors. The clear pungent liquid made her leader wrinkle her nose in addition to the movement of her eyes. Malaya gave a small smile knowing the gestures were just for show. Many nights they had spent passing that same flask back and forth after a particularly hard day. Childlike giggles and snorts serve to drive away thoughts of reality.

There you go. Keep in mind that these scenes are subject to change as they're not the final drafts. We'll set December 2nd as the date for the next actual chapter no matter if I finished the arc or not. If you're from the future, feel free to disregard all this and laugh at how silly it sounds. Cya later peeps.