Fashion Sense

"That's what I saw." Piper threw her sketchbook down on the table in front of the others, looking close to tears.

Aerrow examined the picture with a cold sense of dread. Piper's vision of herself, consumed by the Binding and dressed as Cyclonis, was perhaps one of the most chilling realities Aerrow could imagine. And here was the spitting image of what Cyclonis had shown her, drawn by Piper's own hand from her memory.

"She was just trying to scare you," Aerrow assured her. He wasn't sure how much he believed that to be true, but he just couldn't accept this image as a possibility.

Finn peered over Aerrow's shoulder at the picture. "You're kidding," he said.

"I know," Piper responded.

"You're still wearing that stupid orange headband even after an evil makeover?"

Piper snapped her gaze in his direction with a hard glare. ". . . What?"

"Oh, come on!" Finn said. "Don't you know that orange is a lame color? Especially for a headband."

"Finn," said Piper, her voice shaking with pent-up emotion, "get out before I kill you!"

"Okay, okay," said Finn, backing away and putting up his hands in surrender. "Just saying. The Finnster knows a thing or two about what makes a girl look good!" He gave Piper his trigger fingers before he stepped out of the room.

Aerrow was painfully aware of the silence that consumed the rest of them. Noticing Piper still looking way too emotional, he finally said, "Well . . . I like orange headbands."

"Nice try, Aerrow," Piper growled. She cast him a death glare before she snatched her sketchbook back from him and stalked out of the room.

Aerrow was left standing there completely bewildered. What had he said? He really did like orange headbands.


Totally not meant to an Aerrow/Piper moment, guys. In fact, I was originally going to have Junko say that he liked orange headbands, but I figured Piper would be more likely to take a breath and thank him rather than stalk out of the room if he said it. So I chose Aerrow instead. I've always seen Aerrow as sweet but a little emotionally obtuse.

And has anyone else (besides you, Minn-Maigi) noticed the Piper is still wearing that headband when she's all evil-fied in Episode 52, "Cyclonia Rising Part 1"? Seriously!