Fashion Show

A quick text from Brenda had gathered everyone from the far corners of the store and John had some idea of what was going to happen. A dim memory of his childhood came to the fore of his mind: him, at six years old, going through several outfits when out at the mall with his mother and a few of her friends.

A frown worked its way onto his face as the old memory ran its course. ‘I wasn’t the only kid there, right? At least one of Mom’s friends had a kid my age.’

“What’s got you thinking so hard?” Aeolia asked from her spot on his shoulder.

“Just trying to guess what Mom’s got planned,” John answered. “I think she’s going to have Anita give us a little fashion show. She did it with me when I was a kid.”

Aeolia let out a little laugh. “Figured that was the case. Anita showing off, not little you doing a catwalk.”

John felt his ears heat up a bit. “It wasn’t like that,” he defended himself. “Sometimes Mom would get together with some of her friends and hit the mall. And when I was dragged along, or any of their kids, I’m sure there were a few, they’d have us try on a bunch of clothes.”

Aeolia’s laughter grew stronger. “I wonder if she took any pictures.”

John’s silence only emboldened Aeolia. “Oh, she did. I hope she kept them,” the winged woman teased.

“Kept what?” Beth asked as she jogged over to them, a jacket draped over her arm.

Before John could try to shift the conversation, Aeolia answered, “Brenda might have pictures of John as a kid doing fashion shows!”

“You’re making it sound like we had a full set-up,” John said exasperated before he turned his attention to Beth. “It was just Mom and her friends making us try on clothes at the mall.”

“‘Us’?” Beth asked.

“There was at least one kid around my age,” John replied with shaky confidence. “I was like six the last time it happened. I think one of Mom’s friends was moving away so they did a full day at the mall. After that, I can’t recall any more things like that.”

Much to John’s relief, they had reached the fitting rooms and the rest of the girls were already approaching. Estelle was talking animatedly to Kiera, whose face was bright red. John had to guess it had more to do with the rather lacy dress the witch had draped in her arms than whatever they were discussing. Teri, Vivian and Senka stood opposite them, the two non-spirits holding onto their own small selections of clothing.

“Is that all you found, John?” Senka spoke up first, turning everyone’s attention to him.

“What? I thought we were just grabbing, like, one or two things?” John asked.

“Boys,” Estelle jokingly said with a shake of her head. “Good thing you’ll have us if you need to dress up.”

John was about to issue a warning to Aeolia and Beth to not mention the photo thing when Brenda stepped out of the fitting room, a sly smile on her face as she stopped in the doorway.

“Good, you’re all here!” Brenda said cheerfully, clapping her hands together once. “No need to drag this out. Introducing: the new and improved Anita!”

With a dramatic flair, Brenda stepped aside, allowing Antia to skip into view, her red and white polka dot dress swishing about as she struck a pose, leaning forward as she pressed her breasts together, her cleavage unobstructed due to the ample window the dress provided.

“What do you think?” she asked sweetly, her eyes flicking over towards Brenda for a moment, leaving John with the impression that she was the reason for this little show.

“I think that’s quite the look,” Senka was the first to comment. “It’s very cute.”

“Very you,” Beth added. “Is that weird to say when we’ve only known someone for less than a day, and most of that time they were naked?”

“Wouldn’t be off-brand for us,” Vivian dryly remarked. “But I agree. Anita, you really pull off that look.”

Anita grinned happily as she relaxed her pose, standing up straight and swinging her arms back and forth. Estelle was quick to march up and pulled the mushroom girl into a tight hug.

“Ohh, you are so precious,” the witch squealed as she pressed Anita’s face into her bosom, a position the shorter girl did not seem to have an issue with. “I wouldn’t have thought about anything like this.”

“That’s why I’m in the outfit industry,” Melody said as she approached them, a knowing smile on her face. “It’s so nice to see people’s reactions when I nail the first fit. That is the first fit, right?”

Anita nodded, prompting Melody to clap. “Wonderful! Is there anything else you need assistance with?”

“I think we’re good,” Brenda answered for the group. “We’re probably just going to make sure the rest of what you selected for Anita is good, which given the opening number, I think will be more just to make sure they fit. Though if they all have the same magic as the dress, I don’t think we’d need to try them on.”

“Minor size adjustment enchantments are quite standard for most of what we sell here,” Melody said. “I probably should have mentioned that before, just so you’d know.”

“I want to go look at the rest of the mall,” Anita interjected, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “So, I’m okay with not trying out everything else. Gives me something to be surprised by later!”

“I’m good with that,” Aeolia said. “Can’t try on what I picked right now anyway.”

“We do have a decent selection of clothing for the more diminutive members of the community,” Melody said before looking a bit bashful. “I, um, couldn’t help but see and hear what happened at the entrance with Sal in case you’re wondering how I know you can size shift.”

“‘Sal’?” John said, confused.

“Short for Salem,” Melody explained. “Works down at the coffee shop. Comes in to window shop before pretty much every shift. Never buys anything, but she’s good company.”

“Coffee shop? We were going there, right?” Anita asked. “Cus, I want to make sure she’s okay after I spored her. Didn’t really get the chance to apologize.”

“We can head there next,” Brenda said. “Get some refreshments before checking out more stores.”

“Okay! Let’s go!” Anita cheered.

“Hold your horses there, girl,” Senka chuckled. “We need to buy the clothes first. Plus, Lia never got the chance to look at that small selection.”

“I’m good with what I picked out,” the winged woman said with a shrug. “No need to eat up more time.”

“Then shall we make our way to the registers?” Melody asked, gesturing towards where they stood at the rear of the store.

Estelle let out a breath of resignation and moved to open her purse. “Time to pay my debts, I suppose,” she joked.

“I can grab my own thing,” John offered, deciding that opening with paying for his own choice of clothing would be the least offensive move he could make.

“No, no,” Estelle wagged a finger at him playfully,. “I got careless and messed up. I have to make it up to everyone, even if the mistake led to something good. That’s just the way it is. We take oaths and debts seriously.”

Despite Estelle’s light tone, John could pick out an iron resolve behind her words and let go of any notion of getting her to let him help pay. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to find some way to shoulder the financial burden.

‘I’ll keep that to myself until the time is right,’ John thought to himself as they went about purchasing the clothes. Once everything was paid for, and the piles of clothing deposited into John’s inventory, Melody bade them farewell and they ventured back into the mall.

“Okay, let’s find this coffee shop!” Anita declared, spinning about and swishing her skirt and sleeves. “I want to try some coffee!”

“Are we ready for that?” Beth asked. “She’s already… ‘peppy’.”

“We can’t just deny her wish to try some,” Vivian admonished. Then, more quietly, she added, “Maybe she’ll find it too bitter.”

“Or she’ll take to it like a fish to water,” Senka countered, a sultry smirk on her face. “I can think of a few ways to use that energy.”

“Of course you can.” Aeolia smirked before she flexed her wings. “Huh. Think the spores have worn off.”

With little preamble, Aeolia leapt off John’s shoulder and flew around them for a moment before landing at her full height.

“Ah, much better,” she said.

“Isn’t your small size your default?” Estelle asked curiously.

“Just because it is, doesn’t mean I like being stuck in it,” Aeolia answered. “I’ve trained hard enough to stay big, so I’m going to. Too much stuff is made to this scale anyway.”

“Can’t fault that logic,” Teri said, her ears twitching. “My magic’s back too. Was about a half hour.”

“Good to know Observe is still pretty accurate, when anti-scry stuff isn’t employed,” John said in a light-hearted tone as his eyes drifted around the area. A few groups of people milled about, and only a few were clearly human. Perhaps the most numerous from what he could see appeared to be dwarves, if their short, stocky stature and beards were anything to go on.

Though beyond body type and facial hair, they weren’t like any dwarves John had seen in film and games. Instead of something like armor or western style clothing, they wore things that were more in line with East Asian sensibilities. Kimono-like robes in muted greens, yellows and brown held closed by thick sashes were their outfits of choice, the wooden sandals they wore clacking upon the floor loud enough for him to make out over the low din of background noise.

‘Man, bet they have some interesting story,’ John thought as he watched the cadre of dwarves march into one of the stores, a jeweler if the sign was to be believed.

Other than the dwarves, John didn’t see anything of real interest. There was a certain decrease to the fantastical when they wore what anyone else did. An elf in a t-shirt just didn’t strike him as something notable.

‘I think I’ve been a bit desensitized,’ he mused as he glanced over at Brenda. She was far more wide-eyed than he was, though she maintained enough decorum to keep from openly gawking.

“Sure is a lot to take in, huh?” Estelle said to Brenda, catching her covert staring.

“It is a bit, yeah,” Brenda responded. “I imagine it would be worse if there were a lot of people about. A handful here and there isn’t too bad.”

“Culture shock is culture shock,” Vivian noted. “Just a matter of scale.”

Anita, trying to follow the scent of the coffee in the air, had skipped ahead of the group and Kiera was the first to notice the growing distance.

“A-Anita! Don’t get too far ahead!” she called out to the gnoshroom, getting the excited girl to stop and spin to face the bluenette, a confused expression on her face.

“Why?” she asked with complete sincerity.

“It’s safer,” Kiera answered, her expression growing concerned before she looked down at the floor. “T-things aren’t as peaceful out here as the forest. You n-never know who could be looking to do bad things.”

Vivian placed a hand on Kiera’s shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. “Kiera’s right. Even if this place takes security seriously, there’s always the chance someone would try to take advantage of someone by themselves.”

Anita’s excited expression dimmed a bit as harsh reality cut through her understanding of the world.

“Are things really that bad out here?” she asked fearfully.

“They can be,” Aeolia answered solemnly. “There are people who aren’t bothered by the idea of hurting others. But there are the opposite too. Despite the massive stick up their asses, the Order is trying to keep people safe.”

Anita looked pensive for a moment. “The Order are the people who you guys talked with in the big building in the clearing, right?”

“Yeah,” John spoke up. “They helped us with getting all the stuff for Teri’s people too.”

Anita hummed. “So some people are like predators.”

“That’s one way to look at it,” Brenda said in a halting voice.

“Okay, I think we’ve dwelled on this topic long enough,” Estelle cut in, clapping her hands together a few times. “Not quite the place to delve into such a heavy topic.”

“Estelle’s right,” Vivian said, stepping forward. “I think we should continue this talk somewhere more private. Either at one of our homes or back in Pruzonia. What matters right now is this is a relatively safe space and we should enjoy it. Now, let’s go find that coffee shop, alright?”

No one raised any objections, but the group’s mood was definitely soured as they marched on.