6 - Shopping

Posted on Wed Nov 15th, 2023 @ 11:57am by Dungeon Master Sue Donym
Edited on on Fri Nov 17th, 2023 @ 11:56pm

2,364 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Chapter 2 - Crimson Cartel
Location: New New York
Timeline: 2090

As the car zipped down the streets of the city of New New York, Aurelia and Elena sat there in silence. In the apartment they had come to an accord and Elena had even called in for repairs on the door on the Cartel's dime, but now it was as if the silence were so thick you could cut it with a vibro-knife. It didn't help that Aurelia had her face and hands plastered to the window of the car, staring at the scenery as it flashed past outside.

Still, Elena was curious about some things, so she bolstered up her courage and cleared her throat. "So... You had a rather unique sense of style before all this. Will you be keeping that, or do you think you'll be dressing differently? I mean, if you need to do so for magic or something..."

"I thought this was the kind of clothes everyone wore," Aurelia replied, glancing down at herself and the clothes she'd thrown on that morning. She'd seen this sort of thing in the pictures she'd seen in her research, but seeing more people in person now, it seemed that most people did not wear such light weight or revealing garments. "I know I'm a flamboyant type, but I'd rather dress a bit more inconspicuously."

"Yeah, I had a feeling," the woman in red replied, chuckling softly as she shook her head in exasperation. "I mean, you're wearing a white leotard with a teal splash midriff that's a size small for you and a body-less jacket. I've only seen people dress like that on TV."

With a mischievous grin, Aurelia motioned out the window. "Well, then I guess it's good we're going out shopping, isn't it? We'll have to add some normal clothes to the list." As if on cue, the car pulled over and stopped in front of a massive, festively decorated department store and a similarly brightly uniformed valet opened the car doors for them.

Once Elena handed over control of the car to the valet and they got in the front doors of the store, they were greeted by an overly exuberant woman dressed even more festively than Aurelia thought possible. "Welcome! To SavMart! You must be savvy shoppers! To come to SavMart! Please follow me and you'll be able to Save more! At SavMart!" And with that, the unnaturally cheerful woman turned away from them and started walking off along one of the many lines along the floor down one of the many hallways. Elena just followed her without a word and nodded for Aurelia to do the same.

Not too far in, the woman turned back to them and motioned towards one of the doors. "Thank you! For choosing SavMart! Please enjoy your shopping and enjoy your stay! If you need any assistance, please don't hesitate to use the assistant function! When you are finished, please follow the..." At this point she looked down at the ground for a brief moment. "RED... Line towards receiving where you may collect your purchases or arrange for delivery. Thank you! For choosing SavMart!"

"Shall we?," Elena asked as she motioned towards the now open door, allowing Aurelia to enter first.

The reincarnated wizard just stared at the now completely motionless woman for a moment before cautiously entering the proffered room. Once the other woman was in and the door was closed, she spoke up. "Was that woman a zombie? Was she a simulacrum? Because I sensed no life in her and she wasn't breathing and what little I could sense out of her was so confusing. Was that magic? Is there actually magic? Or was that science?"

For a moment Elena was confused, then she was amused, then she moved on to laughing out loud. "You know, I think it's finally hitting me that you're a different person from another world. I was still trying to treat you like the Aurelia I knew and worked with for years, but you are definitely not, are you." Her expression changed from one of humor and amusement to one of somberness and realization of something lost. "And even though you're in her body now, you really don't even remember something like the androids that helped make the crossing from Mother Earth after World War 3? You don't remember that SavMart is one of the biggest retailers on Mars. You don't remember why she dressed the way she did. You don't remember the people she talked to every day."

Aurelia knew what the other woman was trying to convey. Elena may have been her boss in the Crimson Cartel for a certain type of call center, and she was sure it wasn't the best relationship, but this woman regretted having to give the order to terminate the person she now called home. "I've had brief flashes now and then, but even that's fading now. I'm sorry. The person you knew before is gone." Then a thought occurred to her and her face scrunched up in distaste. "Although I could check the alley and see if her spirit or any sort of residual imagery is left. I used to know some binding magic that I might be able to adapt to this world."

Now it was Elena's turn to look skeptical and distasteful. "You mean like with those spirit summoning things I sometimes hear about? Ghosts from beyond and all that? I thought all that was just a hoax."

"Actually, one of my apprentices was quite the accomplished necromancer. He would spend hours talking with spirits and either getting them to help him or helping them pass on. It wasn't a type of magic I was particularly good at so I didn't put too much of my own research into it." Miss Aurelia waved it off as she instead studied the room they had been brought to. She finally realized it had a large curved desk in front of a ghostly wall that seemed to both be there and not be there. Off to the sides there were several silver discs that looked like they were meant to be stood on. "So we're supposed to be shopping here? I don't understand how."

Elena scoffed slightly as she stepped forward and ran her hand through the holographic mist above the large curved desk, activating the SavMart interface with all of its gaudy colorations floating through the air. "It's similar to that smaller terminal you've been using, but a lot more life-like. Let's start with clothing. You'll need some suits... A nice dress or two... And some casual wear..." As she ran through several menus with practiced ease and made several selections, tweaking each one as she went, each selection appeared over the silver disks to either side of them. Satisfied with her initial choices, she nodded and motioned for Aurelia. "Ok, what do you think? Ah, right... If you step into them, you can try them on virtually and the system will size them to you."

"And that's where all this techno-whatsit seems like magic..." Aurelia muttered as she stepped towards the first choice that had been made - a smooth cut silver and dark grey pants suit similar to the ones she had seen on the way here. She wasn't sure what she expected but when she took a deep breath and stepped into it and felt nothing, she was a bit let down.

Until she actually looked down at herself and saw the suit resizing and moving around her to fit and conform to her body. She may not have been able to feel it, but she could definitely see it. And to top it all off, the wall had become a full length mirror as she stepped onto the disc as well! Hence she just stood there and gazed in awe at her reflection, slowly posing and checking out how she looked in this new suit.

Hearing a soft chuckle behind her, she turned to see Elena tapping away at the floating controls and the other outfits being worn by reflections of herself and also being resized. "I can see I won't need to worry about illusion magic."

"No, I think holographics has that pretty much covered," Elena replied as she finished punching in some data. "I don't suppose all of these outfits are ok? Are there any changes you'd like to make?"

Miss Luna pursed her lips for a moment as she looked between each of the outfits before stopping on the dress that had been selected. Everything she had been wearing so far at least COVERED her skin and the other outfits did so as well. That dress, however... It looked like it barely covered her torso. "My apologies, but is that supposed to be worn outside or slept in?"

"Ah, yes, that is a typical evening gown for the type of restaurant the meeting is being held at." The woman in red stared at her for a moment before realization dawned on her. "You're from a more conservative world. Yeah, you've worn the full body stuff but nothing revealing. Let me find something else. Is the color ok? I wanted to try and find a compromise between the Crimson Cartel colors and something more." As she spoke, she was frantically cycling through evening gowns but they all honestly looked the same from Aurelia's perspective.

"Yes, the coloration was nice, what little there was of it. Perhaps there's something full length? And perhaps with a capelet?" Aurelia looked hopeful, though if it came to it, she was willing to wear one of these suits. At least the more casual looking attire wasn't too revealing. It was mostly body suits similar to what she was wearing with various patterns and hooded jackets.

The frustrated woman in crimson let out a deep sigh as she just opened a new app and started redesigning the first one she'd pulled up. "I can't promise anything spectacular, but I did a little design work growing up so hopefully this doesn't look too bad. I just need to take the skirt part and extend it from the upper thighs to the mid-calf, reflow it with some extra material... Add some sleeves... Less plunge on the back... You wanted a capelet so let's add a sequined wrap in the same colors and pin it to the shoulder. Alright, let's try this on." With a few more taps and a swipe through the air, Elena grinned at her companion like a cat about to eat a canary.

The sorceress, on the other hand, now found herself in the newly designed bright red and silver dress. It was still quite form fitting, but it was far more to her tastes. She felt like she was wearing more than her undergarments and that made her more comfortable. As she posed and studied her reflection, she nodded approvingly. "I like this. It's far more revealing than my court robes were, but this is a new world. I do need to at least try to fit in, right?"

"True, but you also deserve to have your own sense of style show through. You have a rather unique skill, after all. One the rest of us can only dream of." Elena seemed a bit distant at this statement, but didn't elaborate further. "So now that clothes are out of the way, what else do we need? Food? Drink? Furniture? Any other supplies?"

"Please tell me what I've been trying to eat and drink isn't what you normally call food," Aurelia replied with an exasperated and pleading look.

"Unfortunately, almost all food is processed proteins from corpo matter re-sequencers since hardly anything grows here on Mars. It's as close to real food as all but the filthy rich can afford. We can order you some of the top shelf packaged foods at least." Elena started flipping through a new catalog with pictures of plants and animals and various dinners. "I don't suppose you have any preferences? Mexi-Cali? Jap-Italian? Indo-Martian?"

"I'm sorry but you've lost me. I guess that's something else I'll need to study." With a shake of her head, Aurelia stepped off the silver circle and out of the red dress to join Elena at the floating controls. "I used to enjoy spicy and saucy dishes, but the culinary delights of the world I came from were far different and I may need to take the tastes of my new form into account as well. How about we start with common dishes and go from there?"

"Generic foods 101 it is," Elena replied as she pulled up the list of the most common freeze-dried meals. "There's about thirty meals on that list, most of which are various meats and pastas in either gravy, tomato sauce, curry, or cheese. And... here... This is pretty close to that drink you served earlier. That should be enough to last you a good while." As she punched in an order for several cases in multiple flavors, she grinned over at her companion. "I don't suppose you enjoy the fruit blast energy drinks that were in your fridge anymore."

Aurelia scrunched up her nose at the memory. "The cans with the pictures of fruit that taste like poison?"

"Yeah those things. I have no idea how she drank them."

"I transmuted them into something more... Palatable." Aurelia didn't elaborate on that, but considering the other woman's seeming distaste for them as well, she didn't feel like she needed to.

"Alright. we've got you clothes, food, drink... I've ordered you a couple history tablets as well so you'll have some light reading. Is there anything else you might need?" The woman in crimson stared at her companion expectantly.

The red headed Aurelia tapped a finger to her lips thoughtfully for a moment before replying. "Yeah, I need an alchemy set and some uncut gems. Or at least something to use to hold spells."

Elena could only laugh happily at the request. So much had changed for her in the past few days, how could she not? "Alright... I was told to get you what you need and we have a supposedly unlimited budget, so let's see what kind of gems we can get."

 

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