The Mall

John hadn’t expected to find any sort of grand opening celebration for the mall, given that the vast majority of people around would not have been able to even enter the barrier, but the worn down facade of a shopping center long in decline certainly didn’t look inviting.

“I’m not sure I’d stop here if we were normally going shopping,” Brenda commented as she drove around the mall on the ill maintained road that circled the establishment, the rough road causing the car to bounce around.

“Guess whoever decided to set up shop here is using the same logic as Mason and Cammie,” Vivian postulated. “A skilled barrier creator can use the blueprint of the real world building to set up utilities easily and somewhere with low traffic is the best locale for such a thing. Don’t want too many people around that can see people seemingly disappearing into thin air.”

“But won’t the extra cars raise some eyebrows?” Brenda asked the redhead. “If this place is in such disrepair, I can’t imagine there’s a lot of normal traffic.”

“Perhaps,” Vivian admitted. “But I doubt there’s going to be as many cars as you think. The Abyssal population, at least the portion that resides on Earth long term either in barriers or among the mundane populace, is only about ten percent of the global number. And a good chunk of that is concentrated in large population centers.”

“Then why set up here?” Beth asked. “Springfield’s a bigger place.”

“I can only guess it’s because of the Order,” Vivian said. “Setting up in Springfield will inevitably get their attention. And that means them trying to enforce their code of ethics. I’m not saying the people who set up here are doing something horrible like selling slaves, but there is a strong independent streak in people in the Americas. It’s why there is no real strong power on par with older European or Asian factions.”

“They didn’t try to do what the mundanes did and claim territory for resources?” John asked.

“They did a bit, likely a number of East Coast centered guilds have a link to European guilds, but even with magic, the distance of the ocean is vast and there are more dangerous things in Abyssal waters than mundane ones,” Vivian explained. “So they were limited to boat travel like everyone else. But between the relative parity between old world and new world mages and local fauna, the Abyssal population only began to grow once mundane America’s population took off.”

“Leaving a lot of open space with no real power structure to rein them in,” John said.

“Yep,” Vivian nodded, “and even when the old powers began to make more permanent inroads, like the Order did, things took a turn for the chaotic. The nineteenth century was just as much of a mess for the Abyss as it was for everyone else. Maybe worse.”

Vivian shook her head. “But getting back to the car issue, some might just park without any measures to hide, others might try to hide the car with subtle magic to make people not pay it any mind. Just enough for someone to go, ‘car there,’ and move on. It is a parking lot after all.”

“Guess hiding in plain sight does work,” Brenda said, the tone of her voice still uncertain. “This is going to be safe, right?”

“I doubt Nephele would send us somewhere dangerous,” John answered.

“And if they don’t want the Order poking around, they won’t want a lot of battle crazies hanging around and making noise,” Aeolia pointed out. “So they probably have some merc security on payroll.”

“You do any work like that?” Beth asked Aeolia.

“Not really,” Aeolia answered with a shrug. “With the Goldies around, not a lot of work in that area. And any that did pop up was way out of our skill level.”

“Guess that makes sense,” Beth said. “Lynn did drop me off there after all.”

John’s phone pinged and he looked at the message that just came in. “Estelle just sent me directions to where we’re supposed to go. Mom, head for Macy's and park in the smaller lot.”

“Alright,” Brenda said and turned into the maze of streets that connected the parking lots. A minute later, they pulled into the indicated lot. A few cars occupied it, scattered about in no apparent pattern. Brenda pulled into a random space a good distance away from both the nearby entrance and the nearest vehicle.

From one of the cars, a rather plain looking minivan, Estelle popped out. She had toned down her outfit, ditching her dress for a purple camisole and jeans, a canvas bag slung over her shoulder. She waved at them as everyone piled out of the Newman car.

“Great, you found it alright,” the peppy witch said.

“It might be a bit run down, but it’s hard to miss.” Brenda waved her off, her eyes flickering up and down, taking in Estelle’s form before she smirked at the witch. “I wondered just how you’d look in something more casual. Can’t say you disappoint.”

Estelle blushed slightly but any chance to reply was lost as the side door of her van slid open and Anita jumped out with the excitement of a child at an amusement park. Her high energy leap caused her breasts to jiggle enticingly in the simple white t-shirt that seemed to struggle to cover her, the material stretched tight.

“John, Brenda!” she yelled, her voice no longer sounding strained. “Beth, Vi, Lia, Kiera! I can talk now!”

She darted forward and practically jumped at John, glomping onto him as she laughed. John kept his footing as the gnoshroom’s generous bosom squished against him, making it very clear she wasn’t wearing a bra. Anita clearly wasn’t content with just hugging John and leapt at Brenda who was quicker on the draw than John and managed to get her arms around the excited girl.

“That’s wonderful, dear,” Brenda said.

“Teri fixed me in the bath,” Anita explained unprompted.

“W-where is Teri?” Kiera asked.

“Um, here,” Teri’s voice came from the van.

Estelle shifted a bit. “There wasn’t a lot of time to whip up a good disguise for Teri, so I did a rush job.”

Teri poked her head out. Her normally green skin had been turned what John likened to a bad spray tan. She wore a hoodie to hide herself, her ears slightly tenting the fabric.

“I look stupid,” Teri glumly said and cast a heated glance at Estelle.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get anything better than that,” the witch cried. “A convincing cosmetic can’t just be thrown up in a few minutes.”

“You could have let me pop home and grab one of the veil orbs.” Teri pouted. “I don’t need to be visible to go in.”

“And what if someone held you up?” Estelle countered. “Or stopped you entirely?”

Teri opened her mouth to argue more, but her expression twisted like she had tasted something sour.

“Can you undo it?” she asked in a flat voice. “I’m sure Vivian can throw up a veil to keep me unseen until we go in.”

“Yes, I can do it easily,” Vivian remarked before pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You just need to keep close.”

John didn’t need Teri’s empathic senses to know what was going through the redhead’s mind. ‘I think all the girls need some time together. Maybe I can sneak away in there for a bit. I don’t want there to be some sort of gulf forming due to what happened.’

The worst case scenario forming in John’s head was two distinct groups developing, with no crossover, leading to a situation where he was **** to choose one over the other. He hoped that wouldn’t be the case, especially with how the pre-event relationships had been set up for the most part.

John pushed those dark thoughts from his head, and watched as Estelle undid whatever magic she had applied to Teri, her skin returning to its normal green hue.

“There, all back to normal,” Estelle said in a defeated tone, rubbing her arm awkwardly.

Teri let out a sigh. “Look, I appreciate what you were trying to do, but we could have just called and said we needed a bit more time.”

“I guess I was a bit too ready to go,” Estelle said with an apologetic smile. “Want to see if we’re all going to fit, you know. In a real way, not just in the bedroom.”

Before Teri could issue any response, Brenda stepped forward.

“As important as proper communication is, I think the parking lot isn’t the place for it,” she proclaimed. “Especially given the risks involved. We should head inside before anyone drives by.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” John said, looking around the lot. There weren’t any cars driving around the road that circled the mall at the moment, but that didn’t mean someone wouldn’t come around eventually. His eyes glanced up at the lampposts, trying to see if any also supported any cameras. He would think that an Abyssal establishment would make sure there wasn't anything like that around, but it couldn’t hurt to be careful.

“I think the best way will be to hold your hand, Teri,” Vivian said, extending her hand to the goblin.

“Going a bit fast there, eh, Vivi?” Beth joked, deflating some of the tension that had built up.

“I think we’re a bit beyond ‘fast’,” Vivian deadpanned, but the light blush across her cheeks betrayed the slight embarrassment she felt. Teri likewise seemed to feel the same, her ears wiggling as she reached for Vivian. Green met peach then vanished as Vivian’s magic occluded the goblin.

‘I wonder,’ Senka thought up, ‘do you think Vivian feels where her mana is going? And if yes, does that mean she just felt up all of Teri?’

‘Well, she never mentioned anything like that, but keeping a tight cloak on her might mean that,’ John reasoned.

‘You’re trying to not think about Vivian running her hands up and down Teri’s body, aren’t you?’ Senka teased.

‘I don’t want to walk around with a boner,’ John shot back. ‘It’s already hard enough, pun not intended, with so many hot women around.’

‘You poor boy,’ Senka purred. ‘So many temptations.’

John ignored her, his sated libido allowing him to brush off the spirit’s attempt to get a rise out of him. With Teri invisible, the group made their way to the entrance. Estelle stepped to the front of the group and led them towards one of the entrances.

“Let’s see,” the witch muttered. “Nephele said the way in would be, ah, right there.”

She pointed at one door in particular, an ‘out of order’ sign crookedly plastered to the glass. “Just need to go and open it. Let’s go!”

Estelle grabbed Brenda’s hand, and before anyone could say anything, the pair vanished into the barrier.

“She could have waited for all of us to be ready,” Aeolia’s voice sounded as she lept from Beth’s shoulder, a faint shimmer marking her path until she passed into the barrier. Everyone followed after in quick order, but before John could, Anita grabbed his arm.

“Um, I'm not sure if I can pop in like I used to,” she confessed, her tone extremely subdued. “Estelle dragged me out when we left.”

“I’m sure you still can,” John soothed her. “You can still feel your mana, right?”

Anita nodded, her expression lightening slightly.

“Then give it a try. I won’t go in until you do.” John smiled down at the unsure gnoshroom. Spurred on by his grin, Anita adopted a determined expression and let go of his arm, took a step forward and vanished into the barrier.

“Can’t say I wouldn’t be having similar thoughts if I went through some major transformation,” John muttered as he stretched his senses to the barrier. It didn’t feel any different to the ones he was familiar with and he used Instant Barrier to enter it.

You have entered the Aurgenta Mall Barrier.

Before John could get his bearings, his head throbbed with a sudden headache and a display popped up in front of him.

Welcome to the Aurgenta Mall. Please abide by these rules. Any infraction will be met by expulsion.

1.) Please remain peaceful. Any aggressions will be met in kind by our security ****.
2.) Theft, of both visitors and vendors, will be taken seriously.
3.) Refrain from large displays of magic.
4.) Keep any pets, familiars and other animated creations in line.
5.) Do not cast spells on others without their permission.

Thank you for visiting the Aurgenta Mall. We hope your day is pleasant.

“Well, that sucked,” Beth loudly declared, a hand on her forehead. “What was all that?”

“An upload,” Vivian replied, her eyes closed as if the light was too bright. “They must have it integrated into the barrier. First time you step in, it downloads the rules they expect everyone to abide by.

“They aren’t really abiding by their own rules by beaming it right into our heads,” Aeolia complained, shaking her head as she grew to full height.

“Think they might be running on the idea that since they’re in charge, it’s ok for them to bend the rules to deliver them,” Estelle said, rubbing her temples. “Would have been nice if Nephele gave us a warning though. There’s no way she wouldn’t have at least suspected they had something like this set up.”

“Maybe she intended it to be more punishment for you,” Teri grumbled. “But she didn’t need to rope us into it.”

John felt Senka nudge his mind like jiggling a doorknob and he summoned her, the spirit running her hands down her kimono to remove some non-existent wrinkles. Aeolia shot her a sour look then at the display before John.

“Must have been nice to have that just show up as a pop up,” she groused.

“I still felt the headache,” John defended himself from Aeolia’s bile.

“I didn’t,” Senka confidently reported. “But I did feel John’s so I guess I’ll take half credit for it.”

“And half everyone’s irritation,” Aeolia said with a snort.

“Not exactly the best first customer experience,” Brenda complained as she turned her attention to Vivian. “Is that the standard for the Abyss?”

“There is a bit of a ‘Might make Right’ thing that runs through everything the Abyss does,” Vivian admitted. “At least this was just an up front warning no one can plead ignorance of.”

“Not a fan,” Anita grumbled as she shook her head.

Distant shouting drew everyone’s attention before more grousing could take place and John took his first real look at the mall’s interior. It wasn’t anything outside of what he’d expected: clean, marbled floors, bright lighting and storefronts lining the pathways, ones with wide windows allowing any passersby to see some of their wares.

The commotion was coming from one of these stores. John couldn’t tell what it sold due to darkened windows and the marquee above it was blank, but from its wide open doorway, a brutish man stumbled back. He was huge, closing in on seven foot tall in John’s estimation, and built like a brick house.

And he was reeling back from a slim Asian woman of about average height dressed in a simple black suit, complete with matching gloves. The most unique thing about her were her mismatched bangs, the one on her left far longer than the other. As she turned her head, John noticed a small cross tattoo on her right cheek.

“I believe I said it was time for you to leave, sir,” the woman said in a cold, emotionless voice. “I’d rather not get your blood on the floor. It was just cleaned.”

“Fuckin’ bitch,” the man spat, a bit of blood mixed with his spit flying out and landing between the woman’s feet. He began to shift his stance, clearly squaring up to fight. “I’ll do what I wan’. An’ that includes the slut in ther-”

His rant was cut off by an uppercut delivered with speed that John couldn’t track. In the blink of an eye, the woman had closed the distance and struck. The **** of her blow knocked the belligerent man off his feet and up into the air at least half a foot high. As John watched on with an astonished expression, he noticed one thing: the gloves had changed, appearing more like gauntlets, coiling wisps of black smoke coming off them.

The ground actually shook as the man hit it like a sack of potatoes, all sense knocked out of him. The woman regarded him for a moment before she reached into her jacket and pulled out a phone, her gloves back to normal.

“Situation dealt with,” she said. “Send Rowlins to clean up. I need to speak to the boss about his policies.”

She hung up and marched away.

“Soo,” Estelle spoke up after a long moment, her voice a bit strained as she turned to face the group at large. “At least we know they take security very seriously. Now, how about we get this shopping trip back on the road?”