Jump to content

Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - [Interlude] There's no place I can be ... [FIN]


Recommended Posts

"I am my selves. There is no distinction, and if one of my other selves doesn't rejoin then they destabilize. Oh, and yes, I am one of my other selves right now. However I have all the memories of all the selves that have ever met you. You met my original self on the ship, and then I suspect you saw this self being created." Star smiled "Or maybe you were still watching the asteroid belt. It is a beautiful sight."

...

"Sure, we really need to get shoppng anyway. I have a list of must have items, mostly electronic components ... and it will take time to try on clothes too. You can think of me, with my multiple selves, as a person who gets to live seven lives at once ... and this one thinks we should get walking so that the rain doesn't get us before we get to the next shop."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"I probably was looking at it..."

Kamiko hands over a pretty thick, folded up, or more like rolled up packet of orange vinyl or rubber-like material to Star. "Here's a spare rain poncho I usually take with me. Well, I'm hoping it's that. Could be the drysuit I was using at the rapids run... It seems to be the same size and I hadn't dug through it proper after the trip."

She sees some black bits. "Oh... it is the suit... well, it's not that recognizable... just keep the hood loose and it'll look like a rain-suit."

"Or we could get some new raincoats on our shopping run while we're at it."

She pulls some paper out and forms an wide, golf umbrella out of some wax paper she had taken from the local bakery, and normal paper providing support. "This should do until we find a shop."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Star and Kami make their way among the shops. Star has one of her fine mesh chain mail bags with her, and the little rain that does fall is no worry. Plenty of time is spent trying out new looks, of which Star has to consult fashion magazines to get. Most of what she picks out on her own looks ... military. So she copied the styles from the magazines - conservative stuff, two pair classic jeans, tiny-T tops, two sweaters, plus a few odds and ends - all from sale bins and discount racks. Normal, incognito girl clothes. Even the dresses she liked, seem more like formal dress with the way she wears them ... Kami could only shake her head. So again, she bowed to other's sense of fashion and not her own ... the point is getting clothes to help blend in.

So Star ends up with a decent bag of mix-and-match looks and a nice little fall jacket which also does nicely as fashionable rain gear.

"What did you end up getting Kamiko?" ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kamiko didn't really get any other outfits. Just a memory upgrade for her OpTablet... the conversation with the technician was a real treat for a tech nerd... a proper raincoat, in her usual move towards bright colors, she gets a bright canary yellow one of classic rainmac style and gets a pair of boots to go with it. She also browses a SCUBA shop which was odd for Star to see.

"Why are you here, Kami?"

"Getting this wetsuit. This model looks VERY anime."

"Ah... cosplay component? As you're apt to call it?"

"Hell yes."

She buys the blue and white bodysuit, and stuffs it into her ever-expanding totebag. But then at another shop she sees it.

"Oh my god... This... is..."

She looks at amazement at the outfit sitting on a mannequin. It's clean cuts and neo-victorian style was a emerging trend. A look that split between looking towards the past and looking towards the now. It's black waistcoat and skirt covered a white blouse with an ample necktie, and came with a pair of brass glasses that looked compatible even with her perscription. The price suggested knock-off, but at it's affordability level it also came with a waterproofed cloak. She was hooked.

"Perfect! I can get this... totals me out but I'm getting it." She says with a grin, grabbing the packaged ensemble nest to the display and getting rung up.

After she steps out, Sakurako's mother calls.

"Umm dear... you just bought a 150 euro outfit?"

"Yep. You'll like it's look."

"I saw... You can get it for 75 Euro at Amazon."

"But does it come with the brass glasses and a cloak?"

Silence is heard for a pregnant, awkward pause. "Um... you... You've learned well, Kamiko... you've become a shopping wizard."

"I know..."

Kamiko hangs up. "So... I'm perfectly happy, Star. You?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"All I have left to do is visit a couple of surplus stores about three and four blocks over .... component shopping. Heavy duty micro-cubic-rectifier boards is what I'd like to find, plus a big load of zener diodes. I can pull this stuff out of salvage, but buying at a surplus store saves alot of time. Half a dozen more voltmeters would really kick but too, but they have to be industrial grade or they just don't have the durability I'm looking for. Nothing expensive either, so I might even have some money left for cafe's in the next little bit."

"Then I've got to run. But we'll meet again at the palace? I'm feeling that Kishasa is secure enough that going there is OK. I can ask to make a call to you from there, or we can pre-arrange a time. ... Also I figure you might want to give your Mom and Dad a few days before I'm a house guest - and let me know if they aren't good with idea. I don't want to impose."

...

"Kamiko, that is a pretty sharp outfit. Is steam-punk back in style?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Well... more of my personal style... I like buying outfits and using them as components for an overall outfit... mix-and-match."

She looks at her pad while they were inside at the surplus store, and she gets a text from her mother.

Oh, I just sent some extra cash your way.
I sort of owe you a little.
I forgot to wire you a slightly better stipend for your Congo stuff.
No strings attached, but I will need you to cover some errands for me soon.
Seems you're being very productive lately. Enjoy.[/code]

"Hmm... The cafe will be on me, but I want to check the military surplus real quick. I gotta get a look and see if they got some load-bearing vests. I want to have something for carrying my smaller stuff."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Oh, great idea! Never even thought of Military Surplus. Lets go, time is running short ..." Said Star ...time wasn't actually that short at all, but her alternate selves liked to budget extra time in case things got complicated. With Kami, it seemed like a shopping trip could get complicated!

The two friends hit a flurry of stores along the way to the surplus. Starseed had lists, but even so what she wanted was only likely to be at this store or that ... it was the traveling salesman problem in microcosm. Still, they made their way block after block, stopping here and there ... Stars funds steadily declining. By the time they hit the last shop on the trail, where Kamiko had wanted to get her military vest, Star didn't have much left.

"Well Kami-chan, I think that is the end of the trip for me. It was really good too, super productive but I have to bring these things back. I can't run short of time, and the clock is ticking ..." said Star, clearly a little down that the day had to come to an end ... but elated that she got everything on the list and more. Plus she had pocket money left for coffee here and there, to look as if she fit in at cafes.

Star surveyed the scene. There was a small restaurant nearby, with a tiny sheltered parking lot through the alley and in the court behind. A perfect spot to gate, no sat-view angles and no CCTV - though she'd look just in case. Maybe a few cooks out the back, but she could just put up invisibility once she got into the narrow alley.

Facing her best friend again, Star said, "Sorry to run like this, but you understand? Plus, we have to opnet ciphers ... use them exactly how we agreed or I can't answer ..."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"No problem. Just... don't be a stranger." Kamiko says.

Star nods as she warps back to wherever home was, in Kamiko's figuring, and then Kamiko leans against a wall as Star's warp closes.

She rights herself off the wall and pulls out some paper. "Might as well call it myself... Can't hang around for too much longer before I have to speak with someone in customs."

She forms her paper tesseract after deciding heading back to the Congo was a far better choice. She steps through and back to her stateroom in Ein's palace. She sighs as she organizes her newly bought things. She sets the last of her treats on the bed and flops out the suit she let Star borrow on the bed to let it dry.

"So Star... another fine day... still a whirlwind."

She sits next to the suit and pats it. "I can't believe how my world has changed since I met you. Like a meteor streaking through heaven."

She giggles as she picks up the suit and moves her belongings to a central location. "Time to move everything I got here back to my actual room... The Den hasn't formed their base of operations yet here and I've... pretty much nothing to do. And..." She says looking out a window... "...am getting a little homesick."

She forms another gate and starts moving her bags and what few belongings she had with her out through her tesseract.

"But I will be back... once things are ready."

- FIN

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...