Commotion in Little Armor Town

“I’m kinda surprised at you James,” Alex said as she walked beside you and leaned forward with her arms behind her back; you noticed the customized arm binder display beside her as she did that and briefly imagined her wearing one (she did used to bodyguard Hoofer the former ponygirl-rancher after all).

Filing that away for the moment, you shook your head. “In what way?”

“I figured you would’ve taken that cute bunny up on her offer, Hoofer would have,” Alex replied as your group walked through the concourse on the way to your next stop. Erza and Marinette had rejoined with Erza carrying several reams of fabrics (assorted silk and cotton) in a pack while Marinette was checking out some design catalogs. Apparently, the other Marinettes working at the Dupain-Cheng Threads had given her various tips and reference materials when they heard that Marinette was starting fresh after the old house was destroyed with some of her designs. There might’ve been some miscommunication there.

Realizing you have been quiet for a little too long, you answered Alex, “Well for one thing, it would have been rude and I wasn’t ever going to tell any kind of management about Characters having fun, they deserve to have fun. And I’m not Hoofer. And I might occasionally do the dirty with another bunny Akko at the magic store next to the Gardenia Florist store.” The one you now own, you did not mention, not for any particular reason, just that you didn’t feel like it mattered right now.

“I wasn’t trying to say you were like Hoofer, he’s a bit of a jerk but I think that’s the first time you turned someone down,” Alex pointed out.

“There was the horde of Vulcan women in throes Pon Farr I ran from along with the Orions and others,” you replied, figuring running away was an implicit rejection.

“Weren’t they all holograms?” Gogo asked, popping a bubble with her gum.

“Like nine of them were very much real,” you pointed out, recalling the Vulcan women who had been teleported away by Q after the ‘welcome’ party. You briefly wondered if they were all created by Q or if they had been teleported in from elsewhere. As Clover clamped against Alex’s and Marinette’s sides, you glanced down at Clover’s midriff and wondered if any of those women were in a certain ‘situation’ as well. Probably not, your luck isn’t that bad.

“Oh my hot gossip senses are tingling, tell me everything,” Clover said half teasing in her tone. You tried to give a summary of what happened only for Clover to wave a hand in your face. “Ah bah bah, I want to hear from the girls. As the gossiped you can’t be the gossiper.” She then turned her attention back to Marinette and Alex, “so what are the deets?”

You rolled your eyes but took the time Alex filled Clover in to look around at the chaos of the concourse. Now that you were closer to the Sams’ Club half of the mall, the characters were acting a bit more controlled and you caught the reason why quickly enough.

“We’re not gonna be part of someone’s man-doll collection!”

Looking over at the commotion, you see a Character was shouting at a Prime Worlder in a store nearby catching everyone’s attention. Walking a bit closer, you see a Sky from Shantae in the window of a Little Armor Town store, contained inside of a massive action figure packaging (a blister/bubble of clear plastic and a cardboard backdrop). This Sky was wearing the Armor Town armor from Shantae and the Seven Sirens that the minor villain Armor baron tricked her and Shantae into wearing. Despite how skimpy the purple armor was (bikini bottom with large hip guards and an armored bra with shoulder pauldrons, plus arm bracers), it made her nearly completely immobilized. The cardboard backdrop depicted her in an action shot, leaping into an attack. In the store’s other window was a completely immobilized Shantae in a similar set of armor except in red. This Shantae, unlike your miniature one back home, was full sized but was staring ahead with a blank expression. You almost thought she was a prop when you noticed a slight raising of her chest though the cause wasn’t evident until a Prime Worlder popped out from behind the Sky’s packaging.

“That’s enough out of you,” the irritated Prime Worlder in a Little Armor Town manager uniform said as he moved a slider on the packaging by Sky’s head.

“Wait! Please don—” The Sky’s plea was cut off as her face froze as the Character grade display packaging put her into stasis. The manager gave an apologetic look at the Prime Worlder customer before going back inside. The Prime Worlder guy shrugged and looked down at his phone that had been pointed at the Sky’s barcode before putting it away and walking off.

Looking at the store and then at your gathered harem (who had stopped when they noticed you had slowed down and watched the commotion) and in particular Erza with her gauntlets and armored maid outfit, you had an idea. “Hey Erza? What do you think about new and beautiful armor?”