The Amestrian cenz is apparently based on the Japanese yen. But since Amestris is a sort of Euromash, I'm going with 1 cenz=1 Euro or $1 or something in that area.
Thanks to rao hyuga 18 and Anthem of the Lonely for their reviews!
Chapter 14
This time, Solf went even further afield.
He supposed it was a matter of pride or vanity or something, but since he was going to have to face the reality of Danika attending the school at which he worked, he refused to let her do so dressed like Heidi the Goat Girl. It would be a rather unflattering reflection on him.
But neither did he want to risk going to the higher-end stores that he normally shopped at. It wasn't a question of money. He wanted to avoid the possibility of any more embarrassing confrontations. So he hit the highway and drove out to the outlet mall. It was a little distasteful, a little seedy—make that a lot seedy. Literally. It was out next to a field where people were selling produce at the side of the road—but none of his neighbors or anyone connected to his father or his father's associates would be caught dead there.
Yes, there were designers that he'd heard of that were represented here, stores whose names he recognized, but it was still seedy. It was noisy. It was full of families on weekend shopping trips. Worse, it was full of teenagers whose parents must have just dumped them here to get them out of the way for a day. There were overweight mall cops sloping around trying to look intimidating but failing. It was kind of demeaning.
They walked along one arm of the mall, passing the food court with the playland full of shrieking toddlers. They passed a gaming store, a skater store, a goth store, a men's store (hey, that was actually a pretty nice shirt), a little kids' store, a book store, an electronics store, until finally coming to a store whose windows displayed general trendy casual.
Danika ventured inside and Solf followed her a few paces behind. The store was fairly large and the speakers thumped with some sort of top 40 hit. Solf cringed at it as well as at the look the sales girls were giving Danika. She was wearing a blouse and a skirt and her frumpy shoes and it seemed like she spent most of her life in those braids.
One of the girls, an overly made-up piece of work, approached Danika, who gave a little start and sort of hunched her shoulders meekly. "Welcome to Amestrian Dragon Outfitters! How can I help you today?"
Danika clearly had no clue. "I...I'm…just looking for school clothes."
And not a moment too soon the sales girl's expression said as her eyes flicked up and down Danika's ensemble. She brightened a little but didn't quite lose the uppity look on her face. "Awesome!" she declared. "We're running a sale this weekend. If you buy any three regularly priced items, we'll take forty percent off at the register. If you buy one or two items, they'll be twenty-five percent off. Certain exceptions apply. Shoes are buy one pair get a second pair fifty percent off. Handbags and belts are buy two get a third for free. We also have a clearance section in the back where you'll find savings of up to sixty percent off the original price. If there's anything you'd like to try on, please let us know and we'll be happy to set you up in a dressing room!"
Danika just nodded at the girl's rapid-fire spiel. "Oh…thank you."
Her duty apparently done, the sales girl moved on to her next victim. Danika moved slowly through the store, gazing around at the offerings. Many of the fashions here violated the school dress code, Solf noted. He enforced it enough to know. It wasn't so much that he cared; he liked the irritation it caused, not to mention the mortification of having to call parents to bring their kids something else to wear. It would be kind of embarrassing to have his own kid show up at school in booty shorts.
Danika didn't seem to know where to look, and Solf wasn't about to ask the sales girls for any of their sneering, patronizing help. Neither did he want to be here all day. He moved closer to her.
"See anything you like?"
Danika lifted her shoulders. "I don't even know what to look for." She looked up at him, her brows knit, and she spread her arms a little to indicate her own clothes. "This is what I would wear to school in Ishval. I don't see anything like that here."
"No, you wouldn't." Solf glanced around, a little despairingly. He wanted her to look as much like a normal Amestrian teenager as she possibly could. "There's some jeans over there," he said, pointing to a display against the wall.
Danika went over to take a look at some that had a sign above them that said destroyed. "They have holes in them."
"You don't have to get the ones with holes in them," Solf said, a little impatiently. "Here. These don't." He pointed to a pair of dark wash jeans under a sign that said skinny.
While Danika looked over the jeans, Solf turned to see if there was anything else that could be considered. As he turned, he found himself facing a quartet of teenage girls, which, in itself, would not be surprising, considering where he was. But he recognized them immediately. What was worse, before he could duck out or even turn around, they saw him. They were only a couple of feet away, after all, so he didn't really stand a chance.
"Hi, Mr. Kimblee!" Winry Rockbell spoke brightly but might possibly have been trying to cover up the same shock and distaste that he felt at running into her.
Shit damn hell.
"Yo, Mr. K!" Paninya greeted him, probably thinking since they were not on school property that she could be overly familiar.
Lan Fan just waved at him, looking a little more wary. A younger, shorter Xingese girl was with them, eyeing him curiously. "Hi!" she pronounced.
Danika turned around and did that little meek hunchy thing again.
The girls looked at her, then at Solf. He could practically hear the clicking and whirring sounds coming out of their brains as they each rapidly speculated on what they were seeing. That could be bad. His private life was a complete unknown to them, but he was sure that many of the students at Central High pondered, conjectured, or otherwise deliberated on what it might entail. Before they got too much farther with that, he figured he'd better set the record, such as it was, straight.
"Uh…ladies…this is my…" Wow. He didn't even want to say it out loud but he was kind of committed now. "This is my…um…daughter, Danika."
The girls' eyes widened. Paninya's mouth dropped open. Winry just beamed a smile. "Wow! Really? I didn't know you had a daughter!"
That's because you don't know anything about me and up until now I've been keeping it that way and now I have to let you and the rest of the student body in on the secrets of my very personal life and I'm so screwed.
Danika smiled shyly "I just came here from Ishval."
"Straight up?" Paninya exclaimed. "That's so cool!"
The girls seemed to be sizing Danika up, and Solf had the feeling that they were doing the same thing to him by extension, which was hardly their place. But somehow or other, by whatever standards they measured by, Danika seemed to fall within acceptable parameters.
"When did you come out here?"
"Are you visiting or are you going to live here?"
"Are you going to be starting at Central High?"
"Are you looking for stuff for school?"
"I…" Danika looked from one girl to the other, her smile growing with confidence. "I got here yesterday, yes, yes, and yes!" she finished with a little giggle. Then she looked around the store. "I don't really know what to get, though."
"Well, here." Winry beckoned her to follow. "They've got some midi skirts back here. And there are capris, too! I bet they've got some of those on clearance! Come on!"
Danika followed her obediently, along with the other girls. Solf hovered cautiously behind them, apparently forgotten for the moment. This store was actually a bit bigger and deeper than it had looked at first. The girls went from rack to rack, picking through them with an expert eye. Danika seemed to have put herself in their hands and she soon had an armload of clothes to try on. There were a couple of chairs against a clear space along the wall, and Solf figured he might as well sit down.
After they'd come back from the grocery store yesterday (Danika had talked him into signing up for some sort of store card and the total dropped nearly by half), she did indeed prepare a home-cooked meal. It was chicken and vegetables with some sort of mildly spicy sauce served over rice. It was pretty good. Then she cleaned everything up and put it all away. He had to show her how the dishwasher worked, but after that she shooed him out of the kitchen.
She went to bed early and was up early this morning. He heard the shower running in the other bathroom (he had the presence of mind to make sure she bought soap and shampoo when they were at the store). Then he heard her puttering around in the kitchen again, and after a while he could smell sausage and onions. One part of his brain was thinking that it could get used to this. The other part was running around in a frantic circle with its fingers plugged in its ears yelling la la la la I can't hear you la la la.
"Hey, Mr. Kimblee! What do you think?"
Startled out of his reverie, Solf looked up. Lan Fan was practically dragging a giggling Danika over to stand in front of him. She had on the jeans she'd picked out and a blue top with flowers on it. The clothes themselves were fairly ordinary, but the transformation was kind of dramatic. Danika looked…well…ordinary. In a good way.
Solf nodded, as they seemed to expect some sort of answer. "Yeah, that…that looks good."
They scampered back to the dressing room. The other girls scoured the store and kept taking other outfits back for Danika to try on. Then they would have her come out and model them. Everything that she showed him—jeans, capris, skirts, shorts—not only made her not look like Frump Girl, they fell within the dress code. Winry and her friends certainly seemed to know how to work the system.
They sat Danika down and took turns trying shoes on her. They then disappeared into a separate room across from where Solf sat that housed a display of bras and panties. A salesgirl with a measuring tape draped over her shoulders greeted them and after a brief consultation, she whipped the tape off her shoulder and wrapped it around Danika's chest. Solf straightened up and looked away. He didn't want to know.
After what was probably over an hour, Danika came out with her arms full. The other girls helped her carry the rest.
"Now I have to decide which to get," Danika said, inspecting what she was carrying.
Solf stood up, grateful to get the circulation flowing back into his butt and to no longer have women glancing at him uncomfortably like he was some sort of creeper. "Let's just get it. You pretty much need it all."
Danika stared at him, shocked. "All of it?"
"Yes. It's fine." He was so done with this place and the last thing he wanted to do right now was wait for her to agonize over a decision.
Danika looked extremely apprehensive. "But it's so much!"
"They are having a sale," the younger girl, whose name appeared to be Mei, said.
"And some of this stuff was on clearance, too," Winry added.
Danika did not look convinced. "Yes, but…"
"It's fine," Solf insisted. "Come on."
Danika gathered up the clothing with a doubtful look, the other girls helping her. They reached the front register and put everything on the counter. The salesgirl started ringing and bagging up the purchases. The girls chattered among themselves while Danika watched the process.
The last item, a pair of canvas sneakers, went into the bag, and the salesgirl beamed at Solf. "Your total today comes to 377 cenz!"
Solf reached for his wallet and flinched when Danika drew in a gasp and clapped her hands over her mouth. He frowned at her.
"What? What?" People normally didn't react like that unless something dire was going down.
She stared up at him, horrified. "It's so much!"
Solf had dropped easily twice that much for one custom tailored suit. "Relax, will you?" he muttered, taking out a credit card and sliding it through the card reader. He signed on the screen and took the receipt the salesgirl handed him. He waved to the bags. "Okay, get your stuff."
Instead of doing that, Danika burst into tears. There were people waiting behind them who were starting to stare. The girls looked alarmed and anxious.
"What's the matter?" Winry asked.
Lan Fan moved in front of her to look into her face. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
Danika peered up at Solf through her tears. "Thank you!" she whispered. "Thank you so much!"
The other girls stared at her for a moment, then they squealed and wrapped their arms around her.
"Babeee!" Paninya squeezed her. "Don't cry!"
"No, you can cry if you want to!" Lan Fan countered.
"Look, let's move it along, okay?" Solf urged. Other customers were smiling and pointing. He did not like being smiled and pointed at by a bunch of discount hunters.
The girls gathered up Danika's bags and shuffled out with her. Solf joined them as Danika was wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and still looking a bit overwhelmed. She managed a couple of breathy giggles as the girls fussed over her.
"Okay, so what else do you need?" Winry asked with business-like efficiency. "Do you have stuff like notebooks and binders?"
"Do you have a backpack?" Paninya asked.
Danika sniffed. "I…no…I don't. I had a book bag, but the handle broke."
"There's an office supply store at the other end of the mall," Lan Fan suggested. "They have all that stuff."
Mei nodded. "We were going there anyway."
Danika looked timidly at Solf. "Is that all right?"
A little exasperated, Solf gestured toward the general direction of "the other end of the mall." "Yes. That's fine. You guys lead the way. I've never been here before."
The girls headed off with Danika in tow and Solf followed them, feeling kind of drained and a little embarrassed. He was also feeling just a little suspicious. In very short order, Winry Rockbell and her cohorts had taken possession of Danika and practically adopted her like a lost puppy. He couldn't help wondering if they had some sort of hidden agenda.
The trip to the office supply store was managed without tears, although Danika still had a sticker-shock look on her face. It was then suggested that they head to the food court for lunch. Solf despaired, but he was feeling in need of some caffeine. Alcohol would have been better, but it wasn't available here.
He handed Danika a twenty. "Here. Go get whatever you want. I'm going to sit down."
Danika took the bill reverently. "Thank you!" she breathed.
"Don't mention it." Seriously. Ever.
He got himself a grande bold and found a table that wasn't sticky or close to either a bunch of whiney little kids or a bunch of teenagers, which wasn't easy. He sat down with a deep sigh and closed his eyes. After a time, Danika and her newfound friends carried trays of food to a nearby table. They were close enough to be heard over the dull, echoing roar of the food court. Solf kept his eyes closed, wondering if he ought to listen in or whether it would be better not to. It actually took a moment to focus on their conversation over the other noise.
He heard Danika give a little laugh. "Thank you all so much for helping me! I've never been to a place like this."
"There aren't any malls in Ishval?" Paninya asked.
"There's one in Kanda. I went there a couple of times, but it's tiny compared to this. We would usually shop at the marketplace."
"You mean, like a store called The Marketplace?" Winry asked.
"No, it's just a marketplace. It's outside." She let out a long breath. "Everything here is so big! It's kind of scary."
"You'll get used to it," Lan Fan assured her. "My grandfather brought us here from Xing when we were little."
"I was just a baby." By process of elimination, Solf figured that was Mei.
"So…um…does your mom live in Ishval?" Winry asked. "I mean, I kind of figured she'd be shopping with you if she was here."
There was a pause and Solf waited a little nervously. "No...she's not here," Danika replied, sounding subdued. "She...um…died. Two weeks ago from yesterday."
There was a collective gasp of horror. "Omigod!" "Oh, I'm so sorry!" "What happened?"
"She was bitten by a snake."
Another gasp. "How does that happen?" Paninya exclaimed.
"It can happen," Lan Fan said. "Grandfather said in Xing, out in the country, on the farms, they've got kraits. If you don't get to a doctor quick, it can be fatal."
"Are you okay?" Winry asked. "I mean, it just happened, practically!"
"I'm…" Danika hesitated. "It was so sudden, it kind of took me a while for it to feel real. Not until the funeral." She sighed and was quiet for a moment. "Some days are harder than others.
"I know how you feel!" Winry said. "My parents died a couple of years ago. Actually, they were in Ishval when it happened. That place that got blown up, you know?"
Solf actually knew that. He'd only just heard about it, as a matter of fact.
Danika drew in a gasp. Solf was sure these girls were going to start hyperventilating. "That's terrible! I'm so sorry!"
"So now you're—I'm sorry!" Paninya said quickly. "This sounds really nosy, but how did your parents meet?"
Solf stiffened, bracing himself to get up from his seat to shut that conversation down.
But Danika hesitated. "It's sort of a long story," she said after a moment. "And it's…not really mine to tell."
Solf lifted a brow above his closed eyes. That was…a thing.
"It's cool," Lan Fan said in a firm tone that seemed to forestall any further discussion on the matter.
They continued on with other topics, school, clothes, movies, how to milk a goat (that was Danika's contribution—the other girls were fascinated) and the subject of parentage didn't come up again. Solf relaxed a little, feeling like he dodged a bullet. It was entirely possible that it would come around again and get him in the ass. But he felt that he might at least get through the weekend.