Seeking a Clothing Store

The incident at the entrance left John with mixed feelings. On one hand, it made him feel somewhat safe to know that this place did value the safety of its patrons and would crack down on anyone being a threat. On the other, the quick escalation to **** made him afraid that something would attack them with little provocation. Mainly he was afraid of Brenda getting caught in any crossfire.

‘Relax,’ Senka murmured, her cool presence acting like a balm on his nerves. ‘Look around. People aren’t going about like they’re expecting a fight to break out at any moment. I think that was a fluke.’

John took the spirit’s advice and did take in the surroundings. There weren’t that many people going about their business, but there were enough for John to see a general ease to how they moved. If it wasn’t for the few that were obviously not human, he wouldn’t have thought it any different from a mundane mall.

“It’s a bit strange to see things aren’t that different,” Brenda spoke up, her thoughts clearly going in the same direction John’s were.

“I guess when you think ‘magical mall’, one does imagine something like a bazaar out of a story, right?” Estelle mused. “And I suppose something like that must have existed back in the day.”

“As much as some would like to think the Abyss and the mundane world are completely different, things aren’t so cut and dry,” Vivian added, her tone pensive. “With how technology has exploded over the past century or so, a lot of conveniences have been translated over.”

Anita paused for a moment and sniffed the air, her eyes sparkling. “What’s that smell? It smells sooo good!”

John took a moment to inhale and the scent of coffee tickled his nose. “That would be coffee. Guess there’s a cafe or something like that around.”

“Coffee,” Anita muttered, trying out the word and contemplating the rest of John’s answer. “It’s a food?”

“A drink,” Aeolia answered.

“I want to try some!” the mushroom girl declared excitedly and John suddenly felt dread fall upon him. What would caffeine do to the already excitable girl?

“Ohh, a nice latte would be a good pick me up,” Estelle remarked. “I hope they have enough chairs and tables so we can end today like a proper date.”

That got everyone but Anita to look at the witch, prompting her to ask, “What?”

“I’m not sure any of us considered this as a date,” Senka spoke up, getting a number of nods from most of the group.

“Oh! Um, I mean,” Estelle sputtered, clearly on the back foot and at a loss for words.

“I think we could think of this as a date,” Brenda came to Estelle’s defense. “If that’s not too much of a leap.”

“It’s not like we’ve been doing this whole relationship thing the ‘right way’ anyway,” Aeolia said. “Might as well treat this like a date. See where it goes from there.”

“Maybe once we get Anita’s clothing situation dealt with, we can hit the cafe,” Vivian suggested. “And then we can decide what else we want to do.”

“That sounds like a wonderful plan,” Brenda said, clapping her hands once. “Now, let’s find a store for Anita.”

“Yeah!” Anita cheered then looked over to Teri, who happened to be next to her. “What’s a date, anyway?”

Teri’s ears quivered from the sudden and unexpected question and she cleared her throat. “Well, a date’s where people who are in, or want to be in, a romantic relationship go and do some activities together.”

Anita tilted her head in thought. “Can clothes shopping be one of these activities?”

“I don’t see why it couldn’t be,” Brenda supplied, a small knowing smile on her lips.

Anita let out a squeal of delight and grabbed Teri’s arm before dashing forward and grabbing Aeolia’s. “Let’s go!”

She pulled the two captive girls along before she stopped and looked back at everyone else. “So, where are we going again?”

John laughed. He couldn’t help it, Anita was just too enthusiastic and bubbly. And from the muffled laughs and grins, everyone else seemed to share his opinion. John cast his eyes around, looking for anything that signified a clothing store and felt his jaw drop when he found one. Vivian stepped up next to him, a stunned expression on her face.

“John,” she said, “Adventure’s Outfitters was one of the store names from the shopping quest, right?”

“Indeed it was.” John nodded as he looked at the shop front. It didn’t bear any immediate resemblance to what they had experienced in the quest, but that didn’t negate the oddness of seeing the same name a few days later. “Suppose we shouldn’t be too weirded out by it since Amarlis turned out to be a real place somewhere out there. Stands to reason Gaia just ripped the names from existing businesses.”

“Maybe the other stores are here too,” Teri interjected, her arm still held by Anita.

“Is that the store?” the gnoshroom asked in an excited voice, bouncing on the balls of her feet, causing her unfettered breasts to jiggle enticingly.

It took Brenda a second to answer, “It looks like it.”

“Let’s go then!” Anita exclaimed and marched towards the store, still dragging Teri and Aeolia along. Teri looked like she was humoring Anita with her lack of resistance while Aeolia just looked resigned to being yanked around. Before Anita could cross the threshold of the store, a green haired young woman emerged from the clothing racks near the entrance, her head turned away from the entrance, and the gnoshroom girl crashed into them.

A small cloud of purple dust shot out from Anita at the moment of the collision, covering all four involved. Almost immediately Aeolia shrank down to her innate size, slipping out of Anita’s hold with a surprised expression.

“Woah, babe,” the woman said through a cough, running her hands down her simple black hoodie. “If you wanted me to stop, you could have just waved.”

John didn’t like the flirty tone the woman was trying to use, a surge of jealous protectiveness running through his body. He took a step forward, his movement catching the girl’s attention. Her black eyes swept over the group and she grinned. John was taken aback by her teeth; all of them were sharp, giving her the distinct appearance of a predator.

“Though it seems you already have a lot of company,” she slyly purred as she winked at John. She made a point to brush off her hoodie, pulling the garment taut to highlight her large breasts. Then she looked down at Anita. “You might want to keep a tight hold on your magic, babe. Not everyone’s going to be cool with accidents like this. See ya.”

She waved at everyone then jogged off, leaving the group a bit perplexed over everything that had just happened. Senka was the first to recover and said, “I do believe she was flirting with us.”

“More just John and Anita,” Teri said, rubbing her head. “Not that I could get a read on her. Anita, what was that stuff you released?”

“Um,” Anita uttered, her face red, though John couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment over her accidental display of magic or the flirty woman. “Well, they’re my spores. Those ones break down magic.”

“How long’s it going to last?” Aeolia asked, trying to fly up but failing. “‘Cus I can’t grow or fly right now.”

“I don’t know,” Anita cried, tears welling up in her eyes. “A little bit like that shouldn’t last too long, but this is all new to me.”

“Hey, hey, calm down,” Teri was quick to soothe the gnoshroom, reaching up to rub circles on Anita’s back as she hugged her. “We know a lot is new for you. It’s not your fault, it was an accident.”

“Yeah, you didn’t mean to,” Aeolia added, her tone a lot more warm as she patted Anita’s leg.

Anita sniffed before pulling Teri into a bone crushing hug, causing the goblin to let out a squeak of surprise.

“Sorry,” she muttered into Teri’s hair.

While Teri and Aeolia tried to calm Anita down, John threw an Observe on the spores that covered the floor around them, the pile shrinking even as he looked at it.

Mana Disruption Spores
Unique
One of the spore types generated by Anita. These purple ones interfere with ongoing magics and make casting new spells more difficult. These effects last on average 3 minutes per Anita’s Level, with significantly stronger individuals being able to shake the effects faster.

“Well, Observe says it’s temporary,” John reported. “But it’ll last about thirty minutes.”

“Guess I’ll live with it,” Aeolia said. “Can’t say it’s not a powerful ability. Shutting down someone’s magic is one hell of a move.”

“Really?” Anita asked with a sniff.

“Certainly would have helped us in a lot of fights,” Vivian replied. “Stopping people from using mana in any way, even for a few minutes, is powerful.”

“I wonder if there are any other effects that they have?” Estelle chimed in, a hand on her chin. “Could react interestingly with something to narrow the scope of what they affect. They do seem to **** quickly.”

John nodded, seeing that what he had Observed had already disappeared.

Brenda cleared her throat. “As interesting as all this is, I believe we should actually go into the store. I don’t think we should be blocking the entrance any longer than we have to.”

“Yeah, let’s go inside and see what sort of clothes you like,” Teri said to Anita, who nodded silently. As they all began to file into the store, John bent down and picked up Aeolia before settling towards the back of the group.

“You okay?” he asked quietly as he let his first lover jump onto his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Aeolia answered, but her somewhat listless tone spoke more of her true feelings. With a sideways glance, John broke Aeolia’s resistance. “Okay, I’m a bit pissed I’m down to normal size. I was kind of looking forward to this. You know, the whole bonding experience thing. Getting all dressed up in doll sized clothing just doesn’t hit as hard. Not being able to fly sucks too.”

“Hopefully it’ll wear off before we all get through trying stuff on,” Senka chimed in as she cast her gaze over the displays of clothing. “There’s certainly enough variety to eat up time.”

The store did seem to stretch on for longer than John would have guessed, but he supposed there was likely some barrier manipulation going on to ensure each store had the space for all they were selling. The sheer quantity of clothing seemed to have fully dragged Anita out of her embarrassed slump and she began to flitter between the racks and tables.

“There’s so much!” she exclaimed. “I don’t know where to start.”

“Sounds like that’s where I come in,” a sweet female voice said as its owner approached them from further in the store. She was a young woman who couldn’t be more than a few years older than John, with dark brown hair that fell to her shoulders and styled to have that ‘slightly messy’ look. A pair of green oval earrings dangled from her ears, swaying in time with her quick approach. A simple cream sweater and black leggings finished off her look.

“Welcome to Adventure’s Outfitters. I’m Melody, how can I assist you today?” the attendant introduced herself with a smile.

“I need clothes!” Anita shamelessly declared.

“There was an incident…” Estelle began before Melody held up a hand in interruption.

“No need to explain all that,” she said. “Doesn’t matter what horrors have befallen your wardrobe, we’re here to set it right!”

“Was that some kind of motto?” Beth asked in a deadpan tone.

Melody’s face gained the slightest of blush before she shook her head. “Nothing of the sort, I assure you. Anyway, is this a whole group shopping event or just the poor victim of lost clothing?”

“I suppose a bit of browsing couldn’t hurt,” Brenda mused, casting a glance over to Estelle. The witch’s face twisted like she tasted something sour for a moment then nodded slightly.

John tried to recall the rough amount of money he had, coming to somewhere around 20,000. He knew he could pop open his sheet and get the exact amount, but he didn’t want to make his intention to pitch in known just yet. He still felt a bit guilty over his part in the morning’s unplanned events, but didn’t want to seem like he was taking pity on Estelle, or upset some sort of custom he didn’t know about regarding atoning for mistakes.

“Wonderful,” Melody said before clapping her hands once and focusing her attention on Anita. “Now, what sort of outfits are you?”

Anita tilted her head in confusion. “I’m not clothes.”

Melody laughed. “It’s just a saying. Now, let’s see…”

The shopgirl took a step back to get a full view of Anita. For a moment, John thought he saw Melody’s eyes shift from brown to yellow and wondered if she was using some kind of magic. As if sensing his thoughts, Melody let out a gasp. “Oh, I almost used my magic without letting you know! That would have been a great way to get security on my tail!”

“Just what is your magic?” Aeolia asked, suspicion clear in her voice.

“Oh, I can get a read about a person by seeing their aura,” Melody supplied quickly. “So I can pick out what they might want to wear pretty easily. Now, do I have your permission for a reading? Or would you prefer the old fashioned experience?”