Part I
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snow and blowing up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun…
"If I hear that song one more time…" the bottled genie that was Sylia growled. The boutique lingerie shop owner stalked behind her two spirited companions – Linna and Nene – as they made their way through the woman's floor of a Marui OIOI department store occupied by a few other late night and forgetful shoppers. Mari OIOI was a far cry from boutique and Sylia despised the smell of cheap perfume.
"Oh come on, Sylia!" Nene chirped looking over her shoulder. "Lighten up!"
It was Christmas Eve and neither of the junior Knight Sabre's had done their most important Christmas shopping- that is for themselves. Somehow they had managed to drag Sylia into their adventure.
Sylia grunted, stepping around the oversized behind of another late night shopper who was scanning the lower racks for her size of slacks. 'She will never find them' Sylia thought to herself. Outside of her own store the silver-haired woman did not have to maintain the lie she wore to get her own customers to buy her wears. That was someone else's problem but more likely a boomer's problem in this store. Another reason to hateit here. Boomers. Hating boomers was the one thing Slyia and Priss - the only Knight Sabre not present and not afraid enough to hurt the other's feelings by slamming her trailer door in their faces when given the opportunity to come along – had in common. Elsewise the two disliked each other almost as much as they did boomers.
The enemy of my enemy is my… ally.
The two strong willed women would never consider themselves as friends. Their relationship was a business partnership. Priss destroyed the boomers in her sledgehammer fashion and Sylia gave the red head the powerful equipment to do so.
Sylia's relationship with the other two was much the same. Nene worked in the ADP with access to their files and was almost as good a hacker as herself. Linna was an idealist, something Slyia had never been, a born cynic instead, and was capable enough to provide Priss with back up when they fought boomers. Unfortunately, Slyia sighed unable to help herself, Nene was no good in a fight and Sylia herself couldn't handle the stress of combat anymore. Not when she and the boomers had so much in common…
Damn you father…
"What about this one, Sylia?" Linna was asking and broke Sylia from her review.
"Hmm?"
Linna frowned. "If you're not going to pay attention and at least look like you are enjoying yourself… well I wonder why you came along."
Sylia had to catch herself from snapping back that she did not want to come along and was not enjoying herself. She would rather be at home locked away from the world while it cheered at fireworks and drank too much, oblivious to the threat of rogue boomers and the Genom Corporation. Instead she said: "I'm sorry Linna, I was thinking about Priss and how lonely she must feel right now. But that is a nice blouse."
An appeased look came over Linna's face. She liked the blouse she was holding, white with floral pattern, and because of Slyia's taste in clothing respected her opinion on the matter. She wished she could afford the clothes from Slyia's shop but even with at cost because she was a Knight Sabre an outfit was far out of reach. She had enough trouble with the maintenance bills of her scooter and dry-cleaning her office uniform. Charging out of work to turn into a Knight Sabre took her through a lot of congested traffic, or having to run blocks to meet the truck would ruin her hose and occasionally cause a heel to snap.
"Are you sure Linna? It looks small and might be too tight on you," Nene said.
"Saying that I am fat, Nene?" Linna said darkly. Nene was sizes below herself, a child in comparison.
"Huh? No…"
"You really can be clueless at times, Nene."
"Don't be mean to me Linna. Its Christmas and you should be nice to everyone. Isn't that right Sylia?"
"Ah hmmm,"
Sylia had lost attention again. Her eyes were scanning the shopping floor. In sight there were perhaps another dozen shoppers most of them female. The men were boyfriends or husbands dragged along and desperately wanting to leave and fall into a tank of sake or beer. There were no human staff, not at least that Sylia could see. Humans had given up such boring and tedious jobs not long after humanoid boomers came into production. Let them handle stupid customers and maintain a perfect smile.
Half a dozen of the machines all wearing identical uniforms. Spotless and immaculate, make up, large wide anime eyes that men loved and women found un-threatening; C sized breasts that they did along with the other perfect proportions. Well it gave the boyfriends and husbands something to look at while their women went through rack after rack of clothes. Sylia smiled, there were no boomers at her store for the men to ogle but there was her. Men didn't mind being dragged around her shop, not when she was nearby and flirting a little with them. Not enough drive the woman away, just a little less. A small perverse satisfaction that maybe when the wife or girlfriend was wearing something for her shop the man would see her instead.
Sylia wondered if maybe it wasn't a good idea to be closed on Christmas. It would have to be nearly as a good a day as Valentines.
"Yeah, Nene, that's really good. It would go well with those jeans back there."
"Ugh jeans!"
"Of course if you had a butt jeans would suit you."
"What!"
"Now, now, children, behave or the boomer Staff will ask you to leave."
"Linna started it, Sylia."
"I know, Nene."
"Oh come on…"
"I know, Linna."
Sylia could not help but smile, an infection that spread quicker than the rogue virus to the other two women and soon the smiles turned to laughter. It was good to laugh, a freedom from the body tension. Laughter made the boomers, her father's legacy, the Knight Sabres, distant like a hard to recall memory.
It was a shame really that Priss was not with them. They didn't always have to be together only when there was fire and destruction.
In her peripheral vision Sylia caught a boomer attendant looking at her with its wide vacant eyes. As she turned her head to look at it the boomer quickly looked away and approached a single female shopper.
"Konban wa, miss."
"Let's keep going before they lock up and we're shut in here." Sylia said.
"What would be so bad about that?" Nene asked jokingly.
All the lights went out.