--- The Phoenix Chronicles ---
Chapter 17 - Shopping Torture
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The Icebreaker sped onwards through the emptiness of space towards the location of the sixth dragon ball. For those on board, the passing time seems to drag on. This is, in part, due to the ship's computer's control over the flow of days, which seem to press on longer, but in truth, much of this can be attributed to simple 'cabin fever'; for many, it has been a long time since they've left the confines of the ship, and longer still since they'd seen the strangely comforting hustle and bustle of an industrialised city.
Pi strode purposefully down one of the many halls of the ship in search of her mate, but in an odd turn of events, Kaen was not spending his time in the training room. Nor was he in the cafeteria, or in their shared bedroom. Quizzically searching for him, she tried to think of where he could be; he had to be on the ship somewhere, but she'd already checked his usual haunts.
A sudden ki flare, following a string of curse words and an overall sense of frustration through the bond the couple shared, revealed her AWOL partner's location - the hangar bay. Grinning to herself, she decided to investigate, from the sense of frustration alone. Anger replaced the frustration for a moment, followed by another string of curses; that alone told her he was fixing his ship, or trying to at least.
Sure enough, upon arriving in the hangar she could see his feet sticking out from underneath his spherical ship, which was currently resting on a set of supports to keep it steady. In his current mood, it was obvious that he didn't realise the feelings and thoughts he was sharing with her, and it was also obvious he didn't know she was there; his portable computer lay open on the bench he'd set up nearby, and if he knew she was coming he would have hidden it like he always did.
Admittedly, she was curious as to why he refused to let her see what was on it, but she knew better than to violate his trust; when he was ready to share it with her, he'd tell her himself. So, shelving the thought of searching through it while he was obviously distracted, she called out, while trying hard not to laugh, "Having fun?"
Another string of curses followed, and a short feeling of pain; obviously her voice had startled him enough to crack his head on the ship. Once the curses had subsided she could see him float his way out from under the ship using his ki, taking a moment to glare at her, before silently climbing into his ship at an odd angle to work on something else; obviously he didn't see the humour of the situation.
"Do you need a hand?" Again, she had to fight back laughter, but it was easier this time.
He climbed back out of the ship, taking a moment to stretch his arms and crack his neck to either side before replying, "Not really. I may be remarkably frustrated at this hunk of scrap right now, but there's not much I can do without parts. Most of it's fixed already. Besides, no offence, but there's not much you could do to help anyway." He glared at the ship, almost as if he expected it to repair itself by the force of his will alone, before adding, "If dad hadn't made this I would have either sold it or destroyed it long ago; it's cost me far too much time, money and effort to fix." He punctuated his statement by giving the ship a swift kick, causing it to shake violently on it's supports; it was a testament to the integrity of the hull that there wasn't a dent in it when he withdrew his foot.
She nodded and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "I'm surprised it lasted this long with the way you were jumping all over the place."
He sighed, "It almost didn't. I was constantly having to repair the mongrel; I'd just get one system fully functional when something else would go down. If I hadn't managed to juice up the re-entry shields, and keep them juiced, there probably wouldn't be a ship left."
"But I'm sure we can get the parts you need if we land some place," Pi remarked almost hopefully, though for what reason he couldn't tell.
He sighed again, shrugging his shoulders before replying, "Somehow I doubt anywhere's gonna have the parts I need. Dad just had to make this himself didn't he? It's so fucking complex in there you practically need a masters in quantum mechanics just to tweak the short-range radio. I could probably make the parts myself if need be, but I'd still need materials, and there's not much chance of finding what I want in this floating tomb." His frustration had started to come out into his speech, showing just how much it was getting to him; Kaen was a master at hiding his emotions.
She grinned almost ferally, "I'll see what I can do."
Stretching his arms again, he inclined his head towards his portable computer, "I've got the ship's computer running a complete diagnostic, trying to get a list of everything I need. I assume it's a long list, 'coz it's been going for two hours now, and isn't finished yet." So that's why it was there. Taking a quick look at the screen from where she stood, she could see that, sure enough, what looked like a diagnostic program was running in the foreground, but she could also see there were a couple more programs running in the background, one's he'd failed to mention.
Filing this little bit of information away for later she nodded and gave him a quick kiss, saying, "Well don't worry, I'll make sure we land somewhere you can get what you need." With that, she trotted off, thinking a bit on what she'd just found out. Obviously, there was something, or several something's, on that computer he didn't want her to know about, but what could it be? She knew he still kept things from her; she didn't expect him to share everything with her, like he didn't expect it from her. But nonetheless, she was curious as to what it could be.
He raised an eyebrow at her departing back, muttering, "Now why don't I like the sound of that..." before shrugging to himself and returning to his work.
o-o-o
Elsewhere in the ship, Kat finally emerged from her room, a scowl firmly set on her face; she was sick of wearing the same stupid outfit day in and day out. She didn't even like the Cold Empire, let alone work for them, so why did she have to wear their uniform all the time? It was the life of a thief however; she had to travel light, thus she couldn't carry around several changes of clothes, so when an accident in the training room had more or less toasted the ones she'd had, this was all that was left.
She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice Pi approaching at a brisk walk; Pi had only recently taught her how to sense ki, so she still had to concentrate on it to feel other people's ki signatures, but she'd been told it would take time. In any case, she didn't even notice Pi was there until the older girl had grabbed her arm and started more-or-less dragging her in the direction of the bridge.
Startled, she cried indignantly, "Hey, let go!" Inside, she knew that fighting was useless; Pi always got what she wanted in the end. Nevertheless she felt she had to put up a show of resisting, just like her brother would. She almost tripped as that thought hit her. Sure, the pair of them had adopted her in all but name, but it still surprised her how easily she thought of Kaen as family, especially considering how she'd grown up these past years thinking of him.
Again she was startled out of her thoughts as Pi declared, "Time for us to land this tub and go on a shopping spree!"
Now this Kat was not expecting, and the scowl left her face in an instant as she exclaimed excitedly, "Really? Awesome! I'm sick of wearing this stupid outfit all the time!" In her excitement, she failed to notice that what she wore was almost identical to what Pi wore, but it seemed Pi shared her contempt for the uniform, even if her version was considered 'Saiyan battle armour', and thus part of her culture.
Instead, she just nodded, "Then it's decided." Kat just nodded herself in turn, and, in her eagerness, almost managed to outpace Pi in her walk. Almost; as it was, she was easily keeping up, which was quite an achievement.
o-o-o
Once they entered the bridge, Pi whispered, "So, how do we get this thing on the ground of the nearest planet with a decent place to buy stuff?"
"First thing to do would be to find the nearest trade hub. They've usually got the best stuff, 'coz everyone who's anyone passes through those at some point," Kat whispered back to her co-conspirator, sliding into her seat to begin said search. Pi, for all her travelling, didn't know that much about the general workings of the galaxy; unlike Kat, her travelling was more of a chase than a journey, so she didn't really have that much time to look around.
Pi just stood innocently by her side, looking over her shoulder, and occasionally casting a glance around the room in a bored fashion. Looking at Avery, if she didn't know better she'd have sworn he was asleep, except for the fact that the birdman never seemed to sleep, especially at his post. And Frost, sitting at his console as usual, glanced at the pair for a moment, in obvious curiosity at what they were doing, but he wisely decided against saying anything; they were unpredictable enough individually, together there's no telling what they'd do to him if he spoke out.
"Found one!" Kat said in an excited whisper, trying very hard to keep her voice down, "And it's very close too, like a few minutes away; if we were any slower we would've gone right past it." Her attempts to keep her voice down were successful; Frost heard nothing. However, he did feel a chill race down his spine, and he shuddered; something he was not going to like was about to happen, but he had no idea what. Entering the co-ordinates, Kat began searching her console for the right button, muttering, "Now, where is it..."
Pi pointed to one of the buttons, one that had drawn her attention, "Is it that one?"
Smirking slightly, Kat just replied, "There's only one way to find out..." before pushing the button. In all honesty, she had no idea what it did; it could have been the self-destruct button for all she knew, assuming one existed. Not knowing what it was didn't stop her pushing it, however.
It was obviously the right button, as within seconds of pushing it the ship jolted suddenly before veering off course, throwing all it's passengers off balance. Pi could 'hear' another string of curses from her mate, and she started giggling guiltily. She wasn't helped any as Frost almost fell from his seat, managing to grab a hold of something at the last second, or as Avery actually did fall out of his seat, hitting the steel floor and waking up with a start; obviously, for once appearances weren't deceiving, and he was actually asleep.
Frost wisely said nothing on the matter, as Avery stood up indignantly and cast a glare around the room, almost daring anyone to say anything, before sitting back down again at their silence; he may have wanted to begin shouting at Kat, who was obviously at fault here, but she had Pi beside her, and, while he would never admit it out loud, she was scary even for a Saiyan, especially when defending her family, of which Kat was now a part of, much to his chagrin.
Looking at the two women, Frost asked, "What the hell happened?"
Kat, the very picture of innocence, just looked at Pi and said, "I don't know, do you?"
Pi just shrugged, looking just as innocent as her younger counterpart, "On a ship no-one really knows how to fly, anything could go wrong, I suppose."
Still with the innocent look on her face, Kat turned to Frost and answered, "It must have been a system glitch; those are remarkably common. I guess we'll have to land somewhere and run a full diagnostic."
Frost threw his hands into the air; those two were incorrigible. He knew they did something, and they knew he knew they did something, but he couldn't prove it; it was the look on their faces that gave them away, as the first person to declare innocence is almost always the guilty party, but again, he couldn't prove it. Instead he just grumbled, "This is just what I need, either a pair of liars of a real system glitch. Honestly, what did I do to deserve this?"
Kat's innocent look melted into one of anger as she barked, "Are you calling me a liar?" On some level she knew she was a liar in this context, but the more time she spent with her new family, the more she started to act like them, and one of the first additions to her psyche was Saiyan pride; she had to defend herself, even if she was in the wrong.
Frost just shot an icy glare back, and employed a slang saying he'd heard, "If the shoe fits..."
This was the scene Flute walked into, interrupting with, "I take it we have been... diverted?"
"You could say that," the now-awake Avery remarked dryly.
Flute remained his stoic self, "How far, for how long, and for what purpose?"
The birdman just shrugged, inclining his head towards the girls and saying, "Beats me. Ask them, it's their doing." Hearing this, Pi shot him a heated glare, but he just looked back coolly; he may have been on the verge of pissing himself, but he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of knowing it.
Flute looked at the two women, "Well?" Pi, however, remained fixed on Avery, and Kat on Flute; it wouldn't have been surprising if Kat didn't even know the Namek was there. Getting annoyed at being ignored, Flute half-shouted indignantly, "I don't care whose fault it is, I just want to know how long it will take."
Breaking the staring contest to look at the green man, Frost replied, "They say it's a 'system glitch', so about two hours for diagnostics, with a slight chance of it taking longer if there actually is a problem, which I doubt." Flute just looked at the two girls again, then back to Frost, before nodding once and walking off. Frost just shook his head, muttering to himself, "Where the hell are we going now?" but not expecting an answer.
"Hey, could you give me some warning next time you plan to do that?"
The telepathic message caused Pi to visibly jump; she'd forgotten about Kaen in the hangar, and his mental shout startled her. She calmed down quick enough, replying, "Sorry about that," but the others around her were still curious as to why she jumped in the first place.
He sighed, "It's no problem really; it's just that when the ship lurched it dislodged my ship, causing it to fall off the supports... And onto me."
She physically gasped, increasing the others' curiosity, but she had to fight back laughter as she replied, "I'm sorry... But it couldn't have hurt that thick head of yours all that much."
He fought back a growl, and she'd almost swear she could feel him wince, "It's not my head it landed on..." There was only one place it could have landed that she knew would make him wince, and while she truly did feel sorry for him, the humour continued to flow through the bond like water.
Frost shook his head, "Great, she's laughing. Things can only get worse from here."
Dropping her glare in favour of ignoring Frost completely, Kat turned to her sister and asked, "What's so funny?"
Pi had to fight back a smile, "Kaen's ship fell on him when we made that turn." Kat was visibly caught between wincing in sympathy for her brother, and laughing at his misfortune; eventually, she settled on the latter, and Pi joined her soon after, while Frost just cursed softly in Aisu-Go. Quickly getting over her humour as an idea hit her, Pi nudged Kat and exclaimed, "Hey, we should go get Viola!" Kat's eyes lit up, and this time, she began dragging Pi out, for the all of two steps it took for the Saiyan girl to take the lead again.
o-o-o
Viola was, as per usual when she and Flute went their separate ways, meditating on the holo deck, and, as people were often dropping in unexpectedly, she wasn't too surprised when she felt the young Saiyan and Neko girls come in. She was, however, surprised as to why they were there, which became evident as Pi said with a smile, "We'll be landing someplace soon."
Opening her eyes, the Namek woman asked curiously, "Are we there already? I thought it was going to take longer."
Pi kept smiling, but she subtly nudged Kat, to get her to fill Viola in. Her eyes shining in that unique way that only cats can do, the young Neko exclaimed, "We're going shopping!"
One eyebrow raised, Viola replied boredly, "And?"
Pi's expression became one of confusion - did Viola not see the thrill that only shopping could produce? - but she quickly shook it off, "You seem to wear the same thing every day. Kat, how about we find Viola a nice new wardrobe?"
Kat just nodded excitedly at the prospect, "Yes, let's."
Now it was Viola's turn to look confused, "Why?"
Pi just smirked, a wild glint in her eye, "So you can have something to wear that will catch Flute's eye, make him turn his head a little more often in your direction, hmm?"
This comment caused her to instinctively blush instinctively, and she stuttered, "W-why would I want to do that?" Obviously, Viola was not the most feminine of females in the galaxy, but chances are she was the most feminine of her race, which said a lot.
Pi just giggled slightly, using Viola's moment of distraction to grab Viola with her free arm and pull her up, "Don't worry, we'll take care of you, right Kat?" The younger girl just giggled herself, releasing Pi and taking a hold of Viola's other arm, nodding her agreement excitedly.
With a sigh, Viola just accepted her fate; like Kat, she knew that once Pi had decided on something there was nothing you could do to stop her from getting it. As the two girls started to drag her off the ship made another jolt, this one softer than last time, before everything was still; they had arrived. Thus, Pi began to lead on to the hangar, the place where everyone assembled whenever they arrived somewhere new.
o-o-o
When they got there, they saw that the four men had already arrived; well, three of them had arrived, Kaen was already in there before all this started. Frost obviously had something to say, but for now he held his tongue, as Kaen climbed partially out of his ship, pulling four bags of something out of a hidden compartment in there and throwing them at the women, with a cry of "Catch."
Pi caught them with ease - it was hardly Kaen's best throw - and Kat managed to catch them as well, but only just managed to avoid getting hit in the face; they were quite heavy. Weighing the bags in her hands, Kat turned to her brother and asked curiously, "What are these for?" Pi just grinned and tucked them into her belt pouch; she already knew what it was.
Kaen just laughed and replied, "Well, judging by how excited Pi is, I can only assume you're going shopping, and thus the three of you will need funds. In the two bags you've each got, there's enough to buy yourself a good interplanetary ship..." he grinned a bit before adding, "Or cover one of Pi's splurging sprees. Barely." He smirked good naturedly, "Consider it your allowance."
Pi just grinned at him, but still managed to give him an indignant, albeit weak, glare; she had an image to protect. Kat, however, turned to the Namek between them before turning back and asking, "But what about Viola?"
Climbing back into his ship for a minute he just replied, "That's a little thing I like to call 'Not My Problem'."
Kat took a minute to look over what he claimed was 'enough to buy an interplanetary ship'. One of the two bags was full of gold coins, and the other full of gemstones; she'd found gold was a fairly universal currency, and gemstones tended to be used for very large amounts of gold - the exact amount each type of stone was worth varied place to place - but some places would only accept one or the other, so people from foreign planets tended to carry both. Upon closer examination, she found that the coins were unlike any she'd ever seen anywhere before; while one side was blank, they had some kind of bird on the other side, and she'd never seen any of the planet's she'd been on before use that sigil. She made a note to ask him about it later.
Frost took a moment to cast a wry, accusatory glance over Kaen, Pi, and Kat, before clearing his voice to speak, "We have landed on the Rav'tilar trading hub. Diagnostics from our latest... glitch..." he paused, casting another accusatory glance the two girls' way, "will take around two hours to complete, so feel free to look around for a while. Don't wander too far though, we won't be staying any longer than we can help, and anyone not back here in time gets left behind." He knew it was an idle threat, and so did they, but he felt he had to make it anyway.
Kaen just pocketed several more bags - where he got them from was anyone's guess, because he made sure no one could see where his little safe was - before he climbed out of his ship, grabbed his data pad from the bench near his now-closed laptop, and nodded, fixing his coat as he did so; the data pad and laptop weren't 'standard issue' with his ship, but were early purchases when he was rebuilding it that had made life so much easier.
Flute gave Viola a near blank look, one that meant nothing to most everyone, but to someone of Namekian origin, or simply anyone who understood their silent speech, it spoke clearly: 'Would you like help removing the others from your arms?'
She just shrugged slightly, a movement so miniscule it would have been by most anyone not looking for it; her arms didn't even move far enough for her 'captors' to notice. Regardless, the gesture answered Flute's question in the same silent language it had been asked in: 'It won't help any, so I might as well go along.' The briefest of smiles followed it, to add: 'Who knows, it might be fun.'
The stiffest of nods was returned, which in itself said: 'Very well, I'll be on the ship if you need me.'
She gave another brief smile, this one not of amusement, but of gratitude: 'Thanks.'
A slightly wider smile was returned; this one didn't say anything, per say, but communicated a slight feeling of warmth, something that perhaps he couldn't put into words, even silent ones. With this done, he turned and left, moving off deeper into the ship at await their return and departure from the planet.
Kaen watched the display with the barest hint of amusement; unlike the other four, Kaen understood their silent conversation perfectly. Pi, however, raised an eyebrow and tugged Viola on, "We can't waste all day standing here, let's go"; the entire exchange between the Nameks may have taken no longer than a few seconds, but it was entirely too long for her. Pausing a moment, she turned to her mate and asked, "Kaen, will you be coming with us? We'll need some help bringing things back."
He snorted inaudibly, 'Yeah, I'll bet you do.' He shook his head, replying, "I'm sorry Pi, but as much as I'd love to be your 'assistant'..." his sarcasm was so thick you could almost see it, "I have a few things I need to purchase of my own. Quite a lot actually," he paused, looking at Frost with an expression that said 'the offer's there if you want it', before continuing, "so I won't be able to come along with you this time. Besides, it'll only make it more worthwhile for you to show me what you bought later, won't it?"
She nodded, "Okay, I'll buy something nice for you then." Then, she turned to Frost, "So, you'll come with us won't you?"
He was visibly torn. On one hand, there was the prospect of watching three women change outfits for a while, which proved tempting beyond all belief; Kaen obviously didn't mind Frost going along, or the warning glance before would have been a warning glare. On the other hand, Kaen's 'jokes' about her spending habits, and his obvious evasion of tagging along, spoke more warning than any other subtle hints he'd ever known.
Eventually, he chose to trust his gut instead of his libido and replied, "Sorry, but I need to stay here. Flute won't appreciate me out there wasting time when I could be fixing this latest glitch, and I don't need more enemies. Besides, there's a good chance someone out there might think I'm Frieza, and that can only cause trouble, more trouble than it's worth." With that he fled in as stately a manner as he could manage, locking eyes with Kaen for a brief moment before hurrying past, but that moment was all he needed to see Kaen's reaction; his eyes alone clearly said the message 'Wise choice'.
Pi was visibly annoyed at this, her tail lashing around behind her, as she scanned the hangar for anyone else. Avery, seeing he was now, essentially, alone, instantly raised his hands defensively and declared, "Oh no, you're not dragging me along."
Kat just giggled, ignoring him in favour for turning to Pi and saying, "Isn't that cute? He thinks he has a choice." Pi just giggled as well before she released Viola into Kat's care to take a firm grasp on Avery's arm; he fought back a wince at her grip, before slumping his shoulders in defeat. Pi just smiled triumphantly as she led on, dragging Avery behind her. Kat and Viola followed her, but while Kat still had her arm, Viola was now walking under her own power; at least she wasn't the only one here against her will.
Kaen just smirked, waved, and said, "Take care ladies." before heading off without waiting for a reply; it was obvious his statement was as much about saying goodbye as it was taking a jibe at the unfortunate birdman. Avery took a moment to glare in the direction Kaen had disappeared, before a not-so gentle pull on his arm reminded him to keep up.
"Come on, this'll be fun!" Pi declared, leading the way out of the ship and into the bustle of the trade hub.
o-o-o
Kat looked around excitedly as the group of four walked along the busy streets. It always excited her to explore an alien world, and this time was no exception. In fact, she was actually more excited that usual, because not only did she get to explore a new world, she got to shop! It seemed that Viola and Avery didn't share her eagerness though; the pair of them already looked bored, and they hadn't done anything yet.
Pi noted a store on the left she wanted to visit, and, with all the authority of a drill sergeant, immediately began dragging Avery in that direction, not bothering to check if the other two women were following her; she knew Kat would, and Viola wasn't likely to run away. Sure enough, Kat was so close behind her she was in danger of walking on the older girls heels, and, while Viola dragged her feet a little, she did enter the store.
From it's display stock, the store appeared to be one made for women's undergarments and lingerie. Avery's eyes shot open in equal parts shock and horror; what was she thinking? Of all places she had to go to first, why did she pick here? Maybe she wanted to get it out of the way so she could spend more time elsewhere? Honestly, he had no idea, but he wisely chose to face out of the store, to avoid getting in trouble, but remained close enough to be there should any of them need him for anything; just what that 'anything' could be scared him to the core.
The second she entered the store Kat raced off to begin her splurging; two hours was not nearly enough time for a shopping spree, especially when it had been months since she'd last even seen a store. Viola, however, looked lost. She'd never seen anything like the likes of this before; after all, when you're part of an asexual race, or at least a race thought to be asexual, there was little to no need for such things. Seeing this, Pi began searching for things for Viola, as well as for herself, and giving her a basic rundown as to what lingerie was as she shoved a pile of clothes into her arms and pushed the woman towards the change rooms.
Blushing slightly, Viola looked over what Pi had 'handed' her, taking a moment to examine them before saying, "We never had anything so... gaudy... back home." Pi just smiled encouragingly at her, so she felt obligated to at least try them; she didn't have to actually get anything, but, for Pi, she'd try them on, at least. This decided, she entered the change room, much to Pi's happiness. Once the door had closed, Pi ran off to try her own items; like her sister, she felt that two hours was not nearly long enough.
Several minutes pass in uncomfortable silence for Avery. While he may have been facing outside the store, he is still noticeably alone, and inside a lingerie store; these facts have kept him under the careful watch of the store's owner, who looks quite bulky, most of that bulk being muscle, and also quite mean. Avery just tries to ignore any scrutiny being under; he figured that as long as he doesn't do anything to draw notice, he's in no trouble.
Several more minutes pass, and before long Avery's in danger of falling asleep standing up. The owner's seemingly decided he's no problem and started looking elsewhere, but that doesn't mean Avery's failed to be noticed by someone else. A young, and quite pretty looking, assistant walks up to him, shaking him out of his thoughts by asking, "Hello sir. Do you need any help today?" Her manner of speech shows that she's not looking for a response, but even were he going to give she continues before he had a chance, "If you are buying for a loved one but are unsure what you wish to purchase, I can model anything you might have an interest in."
He mulled it over for a moment. He prided himself on being good at reading people, and this girl was obviously not asking just to be helpful; there was something more to it. He smiled, although it was more of a smirk, and replied, "Thank you miss. I would like that."
The girl was obviously trying to hide her excitement, but before she could respond Pi, who had rounded up the other two girls and got them to pay for their selection, walked over to him, dumped a load of bags in his arms, and dragged him out without a word. The young assistant looked a little crushed to see him with not one, but three women, but the look on his face as they marched him out of the store showed that he would have rather been elsewhere, like getting her 'help', so she felt a little better.
o-o-o
Avery grumbled to himself as they walked; first they force him to come against his will, and then when he finally finds something he might enjoy, they drag him away from that too! Ignoring the birdman's mood, Kat chirped, "Where to next?" She was clearly looking forward to more shopping; that last stop had hardly made a dent in her 'allowance'.
Pi just pointed to a place her sharp Saiyan eyes spotted down the street, "Ooh, a dress shop over there."
In her eagerness, Kat raced ahead, entering the store and beginning her search before the others arrived, and, while Viola still brought up the rear with Avery, there was a noticeable difference on her face at the thought of more shopping; she looked borderline excited.
As they entered the store, Pi made Avery take a seat in a strategic location near the changing rooms, while she scanned through the varied items in the store, and took a good few in with her. Kat's own hunt was well underway, judging by the way she almost ran to the change rooms, arm laden with items, but she didn't know where Viola was. She wasn't worried though, she'd done her part; she'd laid the groundwork, it was up to Viola to see the fun in shopping. Viola was, in fact, looking around with at least half genuine interest; sure, it was nothing compared to the enthusiasm of the young catgirl, but not much could compete with her in that department.
As Kat and Pi entered the changing rooms, a fairly attractive young woman walked out, pausing to examine herself in the mirrors near where Avery was seated; life had suddenly gotten much better. The outfit she had on looked to be at most half on, revealing a little too much leg and cleavage to be considered decent in most societies, but Avery was far from complaining; while her face may have been very pretty at best, her body was remarkably hot.
Pi made a frustrated sound as she came out of the dressing room, muttering something about the lack of tail holes in the dresses she was trying on, and Avery had to choke back a laugh; that would not go down well with a clearly irate Saiyan, and he might find himself being brutally slaughtered, despite their need for a bag handler. A quick glance at Kat, who was newly changed and also checking herself in the mirrors, showed that she didn't seem to have that problem.
As Kat and Pi began to head back in to try another outfit, and Pi began to move off to find some more, Viola surprised them all by walking up, of her own volition, with an armful of items to try on; sure, they weren't the most flashy of things, but the fact she'd chosen, all of her own accord, to try them on with the possibility of buying them, showed a great change in her personality.
When Pi arrived with some more items to try on, Kat was already checking herself in the mirror. She wore a black dress, fairly tight while still allowing freedom of movement, and half the bottom was cut off, so only her right leg was covered by cloth; when Pi came back out of the change room, she was still there, so she must have really liked it. Pi herself was wearing a short skirt, but her tail was curling upwards from beneath it, so she let out a frustrated groan and looked to the younger girl, "This is impossible. Kat, I feel like my tail is gonna flick this skirt up every time I turn around; how do you manage this?"
The girl just giggled a bit, replying, "I don't usually; this is the first time I've worn anything even remotely like a skirt in four years. Besides," she added with a shrug, "unlike yours, my tail just hangs down most of the time, so it's not really a problem. It only flicks around when I get angry, but even then it never comes up much higher than my knees, so I've never had to worry about it." She giggled a bit again, "Plus, if it gets really annoying, I can just get rid of it!" To prove her point, she did just that, her tail seeming to melt back into her body, before reforming as she giggled once more and raced back into her booth to get her normal clothes on again. Pi just sighed and muttered something about Kaen, and having to fix the clothes herself as she stalked back into the room in Kat's wake.
As disheartened as Pi may have been about the clothes, she still managed to find a great many she felt like buying, as could be attested to when she carried the pile of them towards the cashier to pay for them, followed by the other two women, each having considerably less, but still more than the average customer purchased in any single trip. They weren't done yet, however; far from it. Their bags dumped in Avery's care, the three of them headed off towards their next destination, the birdman making a face at their backs, but remaining silent.
o-o-o
Their next store was a larger clothing store than the one before it, and from the looks of things this one catered to the more 'exotic' customers, having items to suit most every race in the North Quadrant. The three women began their hunt again in earnest, only Pi taking a moment to place Avery in a strategic location near the dressing rooms before joining her sisters-in-shopping at ransacking the store.
Judging from the impressed noises Kat seemed to be making, she'd found a lot of items that took her fancy, and she began piling clothes into her arms. Viola, too, seemed to be getting into the swing of things; obviously, these clothes were more her taste too. Most of all, Pi was happy to discover that the store's claim of catering for exotic customers was true; quite a lot of their clothes was suited to members of tailed races like hers. She, too, began amassing a pile of clothing.
Over by the dressing rooms, a female employee, noticing the alone, bag-laden Avery, walked over and asked, "Do you need any help?"
He shrugged his head, indicating with his head into the main store and replying, "You see the three demons buying everything within a half-mile radius?" Her eyes widened a fraction, but he went on before she could reply, "I'm with them."
Shaking off her mild shock, she smiled, "Aww, isn't that sweet of you?" He scowled at the woman, but she had turned and all but fled as soon as she'd finished speaking, and thus the gesture was wasted on her.
A male passer-by, about 40 if Avery was to hazard a guess, and, if looks weren't deceiving him, another luggage-monkey, gave him a sympathetic look and a quick prayer, muttering, "You poor bastard. May the Great Maker watch over and save you." before scurrying off, as if he was afraid that he too would be roped in if he were caught by them; knowing those three, he was probably right.
Avery just shook his head and grunted sourly, "I hope he does save me, because no one else will..."
Avery watched in amusement as the three women entered the dressing rooms, first Viola, then Pi, and finally Kat, each with piles of increasing sizes; Kat's pile of clothing was so large it obscured her eyes, and she had to rely on the ki sense her sister taught her to find her way to the dressing rooms. He found it amusing that their piles of clothing were inversely proportional to their physical height; he didn't know why it was amusing, probably because he was bored almost to tears, but it was amusing in any case.
He debated whether he should trip the young catgirl over or not, before eventually deciding against it; sure, while it would be amusing for a while, she, and her sister, would then turn on him, and he didn't have his arms free to try and defend himself, not that he would have stood a chance if he had. Still, there were worse ways to die.
No sooner had he thought that when one of those worse ways showed it's ugly face, quite literally; not long after the other three had vanished into the dressing rooms, a particularly round woman came out, round being a polite term. The clothes she was butchering were at least three sizes too small, thus showing far more skin than should be legal for one such as her, not to mention she looked at least three times too old to wear clothing like that, and of all mirrors to stop at to cough admire cough herself in, she had to stop at the one that placed his field of vision right at her ample, and entirely too revealed, rear.
Avery was caught between doing three things: vomiting, shooting the 'woman', or making some kind of derogatory comment, but he realised that there were problems with all three choices. The first would place the bags in his 'care' at risk, and while he couldn't care less, the demons that had placed them into his care would, very much so. The second meant he could have had to free his arm, an extremely difficult feat considering all the bags hanging from them. And the third, while the quickest, and safest for the bags, would put him at risk, as a woman that large could do a lot of damage to his person, and he wouldn't be able to fight back. In the end he merely chose to look away and try to ignore her, as hard as it was to miss; he was afraid to close his eyes, in case the image would be forever burned in them.
Blessedly, the woman moved on before too long, retreating back into the dressing room, no doubt to butcher more innocent clothing; he just prayed he was gone when she came out again. No sooner had she left Pi came out of her booth, dressed in a particularly eye-catching red dress that rested well above her knees, her tail wrapped around her waist; obviously, this was one of the items that catered to her species. Pausing to look at herself in the mirror, she mused to herself, "I wonder, does this make my rear look big?"
Again Avery was torn; he could either answer the question, and suffer any wrath that might come his way, or he could just sit here in boredom. Eventually, he decided to take the risk, keeping his eyes to her head as he replied semi-amusedly, "I'd say 'no', but I'm afraid your partner might hurt me if he thought I was looking."
She fixed him with a flat stare, "I wasn't asking you, and I can hurt you plenty myself." Pausing, she turned away, looking back and giving him a small, cheeky grin, "Thanks for noticing all the same." With that, she gave him a quick wink, and disappeared back to whence she came.
He just thought to himself, 'Alright, no broken limbs, no handprints on my face, not even a real threat of violence. Score one for me.' He didn't voice these thoughts of course, merely content to sit there with an amused look on his face.
The minutes ticked away painfully before Kat emerged from her ply board chrysalis, muttering, "I wonder if they'll let me wear this out..." as she admired herself in one of the mirrors. The outfit she had on was fairly simple in design, consisting of a sleeveless, form-fitting black top, with a medium to high neck, and fairly tight, but not skin tight, matching black pants; both were made of leather, but neither were polished leather, thus there was no shine. Plain and simple, it was a perfect ensemble for a thief like her.
Pi nodded approvingly as she emerged with her pile of clothes for purchase, saying, "It really suits you."
Smiling at her, the young girl replied, "Thanks." She giggled a little before adding, "I think I'll get several sets. It never hurts to have more than one of your favourite outfit."
Pi laughed a bit as well, "I think Viola would agree, but she might break that habit soon."
"What habit?" The woman in question walked up, catching the tail end of the conversation, causing Avery to jump; he'd never seen the woman leave, let alone come back. She had a great many items herself, maybe a dozen or more, and all in colours that either matched her skin, or were various shades of blue, usually light coloured.
The Saiyan woman just smiled, "Oh nothing. Those will look good on you Viola." She grinned, "I'm sure Flute will think so too." Instead of the deep blush that would have been her reaction mere hours ago, she simply smirked in her slight way before walking into the nearest free booth; obviously, she agreed.
Pi shook her head, a smile on her face, at the changes that Viola had undergone because of a single shopping trip. Still smiling, she sat down next to Avery, turning to regard the birdman and asking, "Enjoying yourself today Avery?"
Eyes to the ground, he just groaned, "Please, kill me now..."
She just laughed, "Kaen used to say the same thing. I can't imagine why, this is so much fun!"
He snorted, "For you maybe, but you should try it from this end some day. You've just got to try the stuff on, you don't have to lug it around all day."
She just smirked, "Of course not, that's a job for you big strong men." There was a hint of sarcasm in there somewhere, but he couldn't work out to which word it applied. He bit back an acid-tongued reply, knowing that she was much stronger than he was, and that hurting her would be met with brutal retaliation; assuming, of course, that he could hurt her. Pi just laughed at the look on his face; it looked like he'd eaten a lemon or five, rind and all. "A Saiyan woman would take care of you, might even help you grow a backbone."
She stood and made her way to the counter, and thus, missed the look of depression and remorse that flitted across his face before being hidden again under his apathetic, brooding mask; she had no way of knowing about his past, so it's only natural she assumed he was single. It had been seven years, but seven years isn't long enough to grieve; Frost was the only one that knew he was a widower, and if he knew what was good for him, he'd keep it that way.
o-o-o
After the three women paid for their locust-like damage to the stock of the last store, and Avery had been piled with more bags, they had marched over to the nearest shoe store; after all, what is a new outfit without a pair of shoes to go with it? As soon as they entered the store, the three women went their separate ways, all but one knowing exactly what she wanted already. Kat wanted a pair of boots, or a couple pair, to go with her new outfits, and several pairs of more comfortable shoes for relaxation, while Viola decided to stick to what she felt were 'normal' shoes; in other words, plain, but functional. Both avoided high heels like they were diseased.
Pi, however, wasn't entirely sure about what she wanted, and was able to rope an assistant into helping her. Said assistant was a young Tori-Jin, who looked to be sixteen if she was a day, and despite the constant orders from Pi, she still managed to get a good look at Avery on more than one occasion.
A wistful look filled his features, and he smiled at her sadly. On one hand, he was glad to see that the Tori-Jin wanderlust had prevailed, and that the race would live on; if one was seen off world, at least nineteen more had left after her. On the other hand, he wasn't ready to accept the affectionate looks she was casting his way; normally, he would have loved the attention, but it was too soon, and she looked too much like a younger... her. To save himself from any more painful memories, he turned away forcefully, and the young girl, although a little dejected, had seen the look in his eyes, the pain on his soul, and didn't press the issue.
The shoe store held the girls interest for less time than the other stores thus far, and, after piling more stuff into Avery's arms, they began dragging him out again. A clock he passed on the way out showed they'd only been gone half an hour. He groaned painfully, and the torture continued.
o-o-o
A while later Avery, who's arms were now piled with so much stuff he was lucky to have room to see over them, was now holding himself aloft by sheer willpower alone. He praised every god he'd ever heard of when he noticed a clock in a store they passed and saw that their time was almost up; they had a mere five minutes to get back to the ship, which would be just long enough for them to get there.
Pi noticed the time as well, and muttered, "Darn, that's a shame. Time to head back. Avery, was there anywhere you wanted to go before we leave?"
He just snorted, "God no."
Pi just gave him a flat stare before turning and heading back in the direction of the ship, Kat following her dejectedly, tail quite literally hanging between her legs; that was no where near long enough in her opinion! Even Viola seemed disappointed that their trip was over, but she was better at hiding it than the young catgirl.
Before too long they reached the Icebreaker, a nearby digital clock showing they had roughly 2 minutes spare, and Pi wasted no time in rummaging through the pile of items, searching for her purchases, and hauling them back to her and Kaen's shared room. Kat, in her wake, grabbed her stuff, and Viola waited until the pair of them were done before taking hers. None of the women really paid much attention to the various piles of boxes over by Kaen's workstation.
Finally free from the clutches of the three demons in female guise, Avery almost literally dragged himself to the bridge and slumped into his chair, his head slamming into the console in front of him in a way you'd swear was painful; it was a sign of the birdman's exhaustion that he felt nothing of the blow, as he wavered on the verge of passing out.
Noting his entrance, Frost just muttered, "I almost expected to hear you'd killed them... or yourself."
He didn't raise his head, merely groaning, "If I could have I would have, but I never had my arms free to do anything." Painfully raising his head to look at the Aisu, fear quite evident in the normally cold and calm Tori-Jin's eyes, he almost pleaded, "Please, if they ever even suggest doing that again, please, do me a favour. Blast me." The fact he was asking Frost, the man who looked the epitome of his greatest fear, to do this showed just how torturous an experience it was.
Frost regarded him with a grimace, replying, "Only if you blast me at the same time to spare me that fate."
Avery managed to wheeze out, "Deal," before his strength left him, and his head once again slammed into the console.
Mere moments later the AWOL Saiyan warrior walked into the room, and, noticing Avery, declared with at least a hint of real surprise in his voice, "You're alive? Huh, go figure... Guess two hours wasn't really long enough for them."
Frost just shook his head and muttered something into his control console, most likely something in Avery's favour, but for the most part also unheard. Before Kaen could question him on what he said, the stoic Namek adventurer entered as well, asking, "Is it time to leave yet?"
Kaen just shrugged, saying, "Well, the 'bots just finished loading up the last of my stuff, so I'm done, but I can't vouch for the others. I assume so."
Flute looked at Avery for a moment, then back to the others, and said, "I assume they took him with them, which mean's they're back. In any case, let's be off. We have delayed here long enough." Frost just nodded and pressed a few buttons on his console, and they were away; as soon as Frost had nodded, Flute had already started to move off.
Kaen waited a few moments for the Namek to get out of earshot of the others before running after him; as he left he heard a weary Avery ask if there actually was any glitch, and an amused Frost chuckle, but that wasn't his concern. Catching up with Flute, who had paused when he felt the Saiyan chasing him, he asked, "What's the rush anyway? Stop me if it's none of my business, but why do you need these things so quickly?"
Flute regarded him quickly, obviously weighing up the possibilities in his mind, before nodding, having reached a decision, and replying, "A relentless storm currently harries the planet Namek; it's all but unstoppable. The dragon balls, however, can stop this storm, and hopefully restore the damage done."
Kaen's eyes widened a fraction, one of those minor gestures that spoke more than words, as he replied solemnly, "Oh. How?"
In the same solemn tone, Flute added, "The dragon balls will grant three wishes when assembled. Normally, I would not tell anyone this, but as payment for your services, you may use one of them."
His eyes widened a fraction more, "I see... Well then..." In all honesty, he couldn't think of a way to answer that statement.
"Tell no-one else. The dragon balls may be used for evil, and that, in itself, would cause more trouble than anyone could possibly imagine." His voice was still in that same low tone, but the warning was no less clear.
Kaen just nodded solemnly, "I can understand that." A hint of a smile tugged at his lips as he added, "Although, you do realise that I probably couldn't hide this from Pi if I tried; she has an innate ability for ferreting out the truth. I know she'll be able to keep it between us, but I can't lie to her."
"I understand." Flute replied, a hint of a smile tugging at his own lips, "You and Pi are two of the only four on this ship who can know what the dragon balls can do. We can't afford anyone else knowing."
He nodded, "I get the need for secrecy. If someone like Frieza got his slimy lizard hands on them..."
"We will speak of this another time. Some place with less ears." With that, he turned and continued walking away the control room.
Kaen just sighed, saying to himself, "Well, guess I've delayed long enough. I better get back to work finishing up..." and walked off, back to his workstation in the hangar bay. And so, with a minor delay, the Icebreaker returns to its quest for the remaining two legendary dragon balls.
End Chapter 17
To be continued...