Why Not?

Posted on Mon Nov 25th, 2019 @ 11:28am by

Mission: Casperia Prime - A lesson in relaxation
Location: Anje's Quarters-Deck 2
Timeline: after Anje's date with Quinn
1281 words - 2.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Quinn was gone, but Anje swore she could still feel her presence, though it was possibly just wishful thinking. She knew the others were afraid of her, even Gallia, and that huge Scot didn't seem to be afraid of much, if anything, but she knew somehow that Quinn wouldn't hurt anyone just because, she'd have to be pushed to a whole other extreme before she'd turn violent, ~She doesn't have the heart to be what everyone's afraid she is.~ Anje decided, noticing Milla hadn't come home, either, "She's probably mad at me..." Anje sighed, knowing she was right. She also knew she was lonely, bored, and not wanting to sleep just yet. She rose to her feet, grabbing her bag and saying aloud, "Time to go out."

[Deck 2, 10 Minutes Later]

Deck 2, the Elysium's equivalent to the Promenade, a twenty four hour a day place where you could get anything legal on demand, the modern version of the Old Earth malls, exactly where Anje needed to be at that moment. She stopped first at a coffee stand, getting an iced caramel machiatto while thinking about what exactly she was down there for. The rows of shops and lounges caught her eye hard, fixating her on a desire to do things and blow some coin just because she could. She looked herself over in a window, shaking her head, this wouldn't do at all, especially not with her having another date in the morning, she simply couldn't see Quinn again looking like such a mysh. She took down her drink rapidly, playfully chiding herself, "Where's your sense of adventure, Anje?" as she rose to walk into a nearby clothing store.

Plundering through rack after rack of already made garments and poring over the items available for replication made her realize how hard this was going to be, not to mention how much she'd let herself go. Sure, she was still pretty enough, she guessed, but she felt plain, she didn't want to feel plain anymore, but she'd been blending in for so long she was no longer sure where to start.

"Maybe something that shows off your legs." A voice from behind said, causing Anje to spin around.

"Oh, hi, Charlie." She laughed nervously as she saw Charlie the Bartender, "How are you?"

"Doing great, doing some late night shopping." Charlie replied, walking over and embracing the much shorter woman, "Don't usually see you day shift people out this time of night, though."

"I guess not." Anje shrugged, adding, "I, uh, I don't know, just looking to update the wardrobe a little, maybe..."

"Maybe stop dressing like you're auditioning to be a wall in shuttle bay six?" Charlie asked, "I think that's a great idea. Now, where were we? Oh, yeah, this!" She brought up a picture from the replicator archives of a black dress, tight in all the right places and slit to the hip on one side, "Your legs are short, but they're pretty, well defined, you need to show them off. This dress is totally you."

"Little revealing isn't it?" Anje asked the younger woman.

"Perfectly revealing." Charlie replied, replicating the dress and taking Anje's arm to lead her into the fitting room, taking Anje's discarded t-shirt and jeans as she changed into the new dress, "Oh, yeah, by the way, you're not getting this stuff back until the end of the night, so let's find this new wardrobe in a hurry or you'll be walking the deck in your panties."

Anje giggled and shook her head in surrender, it seemed she had become Charlie's project now. She slid into the dress and stopped and stared at herself for a second, "Oh, wow..."

"Okay, come on, let's see it." Charlie ordered as she listened to Anje's commentary on the outfit. She whistled as Anje walked out, "Oooh, sexy girl." She looked Anje over from top to bottom, turning her around to get the whole picture, "Yes, this is a definite winner. Now we need shoes. Size?"

"I'm a six." Anje replied.

"Not in that dress you aren't." Charlie casually flirted, stepping to the replicator and coming back with a pair of black strappy open toed heels that wrapped all the way to her knees, "These with this, trust me."

Giggling, Anje obediently strapped the heels onto her feet, realizing they'd given her an extra three inches of height, "Holy Crap, I'm a whole person."

"There we go, more of you to love." Charlie encouraged. She was happy to have been here when Anje came in, figuring without encouragement she'd have walked out still looking like a pretty college librarian who had never let her freak flag fly properly, "Now, something for shore leave...."

Anje and Charlie spent the next hour trying on new clothes before Anje left with fifteen new outfits, everything ranging from dresses to short skirts to a pair of pink jean shorts and matching Doc Marten boots, paired with an 'Explore Risa' t-shirt portraying two scantily clad women in a tight embrace this was the outfit Charlie convinced her to leave the store in.

As they walked out of the store and onto the deck, Charlie turned to Anje and simply said, "Okay, now what?"

"Uh, not really sure." Anje shrugged, she hadn't expected to even do this much really, "Thought about changing my hair a little..."

"Brilliant idea! Librarian hair must go." Charlie said emphatically, taking Anje's hand and practically dragging her to a decidedly punk looking establishment, "Yo, Spider! Got someone here needs your touch."

"Spider?" Anje asked nervously, ~Who the hell names their kid Spider?~ "Uhh, Char, I'm not so sure about..."

"It'll be fine, trust me." Charlie encouraged, sitting Anje in a nearby stylist's chair as a young woman with dreadlocks atop of a shaven back and sides with a tattoo of a black widow in her web stepped up.

"Oh, wow, yeah. She needs me desperately." Spider nodded, "We got some kindas serious librarian shit goin' on here."

"Why does everybody keep saying that?" Anje asked, less angry than curious.

"Oh, honey...." Charlie shook her head as Spider placed a cape over Anje, turning the Legate to the nearby mirror.

Anje looked at herself for only a second before hanging her head and cursing, "Ublyodok.... I do look like a librarian."

"That's okay, baby, Spider's got ya." Spider reassured, wetting Anje's mane, "So, what are we thinking here? Layers, color?"

"Don't ask her, she let herself look like a librarian." Charlie teased, kissing Anje's cheek, "Trust me, huh?"

"Do I have a choice?" Anje laughed nervously.

"Nope." Charlie and Spider said in unison, followed by a loud metallic crunching sound preceding Spider dropping Anje's ponytail into her lap.

"Hoo boy...." Anje took a deep breath, she was all in now, like it or not.

A half an hour later Anje walked out of Spider's Web with a heavily layered pixie and an appointment for maintenance in four weeks, barely recognizing herself, ~Well, not sure who I see now, but she's definitely not a librarian.~

"Now there's a girl who isn't going to blend in with the shuttlebay anymore." Charlie smiled proudly as she looked Anje over. It was then she noticed it, a cute little hummingbird, green outlined with pink, on the seemingly so straight-laced Legate's lower back, "Okay, how long have you been hiding this? Anyway, no more, totally unacceptable to hide this primo artwork." She dashed to the front of the other woman, tying her shirt at the waist with Anje's now unneeded hair tie, exposing her belly button in the front and the hummingbird in the back, "Better!"

"Right." Anje agreed, "Let's see a librarian do that."