Our Last Days as Children

[Nayt]

"I think it is much better," Etsu declared promptly.

She nodded her head, though. She was done with this store. Honestly, she didn't need anymore books. Eld had a ton and she could always get some from Toushikyo or Maya. She was considering not even buying this one-- but hey, why not. It seemed good enough. So she wound up purchasing this (with money obtained through working at Sarah's ranch, something she'd taken up for the past month. Etsu had to do something now that she wasn't in school, otherwise she'd just drive herself crazy) and heading out with Eld.

"I wour-rd r-rike to go to the cr-rothes shop," she declared.

She wasn't done shopping--especially since that's where she wanted to go in the first place. She didn't have many clothes here and she was tired of cycling through the same stuff-- and all she could find in Hillcrest were old maid's clothes. Fashion seemed to be a masculine thing there.

Truly ironic.

[Zach Kaiser]

Arguing with Etsu about books was pointless; arguing with her on anything was likely pointless, as he sometimes suspected she just liked to disagree with him on principle. It wasn't as bad as when she first arrived, but it could still be a bit tiresome.

Though he supposed he couldn't blame her if she wanted to put some distance between them.

"Sure. There's a shop that just opened fairly recently, I think you'll like it."

The shop itself was larger than most other clothing stores--which were already rare, as most clothes sellers usually just had market stalls. But this one was trying something different. It endeavored to be the kind of store people talked about, that attracted customers from all around.

Normally, Eld would have figured Etsu would actually dislike that kind of spectacle, were it not for the fact that it specialized in exotically styled (but reasonably affordable!) clothes, including Cizokain selections. Given that she didn't seem terribly fond of the mostly Algerothian styles of clothing found in Hillcrest, he figured this would be a good change of pace.

As they stepped into the store, however, something unexpected happened. Following a nod from a well-dressed man, they were suddenly besieged by employees. "Welcome! Welcome!" the well-dressed man said; while his suit was somewhat nice, there was something about his moustache that screamed "greasy." "You're our 1000th and 1001st customers! And what a cute looking couple, too!"

[Nayt]

Etsu was pleased with the shop already. It had a lot of interesting things--a lot unique styles, a lot of blending styles, and a lot of exotic styles she'd never even seen before. From what she knew about Eld's girlfriend, Akizetsumei of Terra would have felt like she died and went to heaven if she were to come to this place. Etsu didn't actually know too much about style and whatnot, but she at least knew she was bored with her current wardrobe and really needed to spruce it up with something--like a few new outfits of an extremely odd and outlandish variety.

Walking into the store, she was pleased. Actually pausing to see what was inside-- or who was inside, rather --was not quite as pleasing to her. They were suddenly crowded all at once, and Etsu was filled with a newfound drive to hit someone.

"C-- cou--"

The girl didn't even get the word out of her mouth. She was actually less put off by that than she was confused about this whole 1000th and 1001st customer business. What bullshit capitalism was going on here?

She looked up to Eld with a furrowed brow and asked promptly, "Nani desu ka?"

[Zach Kaiser]

When Eld turned to address, it would be his expression as much as his shrug that would indicate that he was just as confused as she was. Though he was also a little annoyed, as he got the impression if Etsu was not already blaming him for this somehow, she was about to start.

"U-Umm...I'm not sure what's going on, but I think there's been a mistake. W-We're not actually-"

He was cut off as the well-dressed man leaned in close to them, speaking in a low whisper. "Look, it's just a promotional thing and you're the first pair of good looking young people that's walked in all day. Just play along and you'll get some free stuff, alright?"

Not even waiting for their consent, he motioned to his employees, who came to either side of them, each grabbed one of their arms and began to drag them towards a pair of dressing rooms with extremely forced cheerfulness.

[Nayt]

She was about to ask the badly mustached man what exactly he was talking about, perhaps demand some clarification, and then maybe inquire about this free stuff deal (because apparently this was the right kind of capitalist bullshit, the free stuff kind), but she was hauled away by her arm before she could even get a word out. And in no time at all, Etsu found herself actually reaching out for Eld.

"Ts-- Tsukimono-kun!" she called to him meekly.

Because some part of her imagined that, in another time, in another world, something like this happened to a pair similar to them, except they were being hauled off to die or something. Something dramatic like that.

In the dressing room, Etsu was treated to five different outfits. Technically six, actually, but Etsu didn't even want to think about that last one. It made her want to storm out and ask that guy why he would ever think of giving something like that to a girl like her. First of all, she wasn't that kind of girl. Second of all, she was fourteen years old. What kind of creepy bastard gives something like that to a fourteen year old girl? She might as well have not been wearing anything at all! Etsu wondered if Eld had anything that bad in his dressing room, too. In the interest of free stuff, though, she left the matter alone and pursued it no further.

The other five outfits were good, though. She liked them. It was actually kind of a toss up between them all. She didn't exactly want to choose after she'd tried them all on. After about fifteen minutes, she settled on one . . .

Although blue was actually her favorite color, she kind of liked how this one looked on her. She came out of the dressing room, hoping perhaps to find Eld and ask--without explicitly indicating this his opinion mattered--what he thought of the decision. It was a hip hugging, form fitting red dress that came down to the middle of her thighs. It had with it a large, loose fitting brown belt that limply hung around her waist--a belt that existed solely for fashion. Odd. It was a bit low cut, though, which made her kind of self conscious about the almost excessive amount of cleavage it showed, and also that she had a hard time making it so the top edges of her bra weren't visible--which was ultimately impossible. It was either hide her bra straps or hide the top edges of the cups themselves but nothing in-between. But seriously, all she needed was one of those New Xexorian mobster's girlfriend's style of hat and she would most definitely be what such kind would call "the bee's knees" or the "cat's meow," two idioms that made utterly no sense to her, yet had enough good connotations that she wouldn't exactly mind the compliment.

This dress also made her look like she was about two or three years older than she really was. That was probably the biggest perk of them all.

[Zach Kaiser]

When Etsu reached out for him, Eld instinctively reached out as well, just barely touching her hand before they were pulled apart. He suddenly had the urge to grab the arm of the guy dragging him, throw him to the ground, punch the guy dragging Etsu away, and take her hand and run out of the store and into freedom and safety.

He fought that urge, deciding that it was very silly and would create no small amount of trouble for him, especially if it got back to his parents. Just before they disappeared into respective dressing rooms, he gave Etsu a sympathetic look; for now, they'd just have to put up with whatever shenanigans the well-dressed man was on about.

When Etsu emerged from the dressing room, one of the attendants went into to Eld's after taking note of her outfit (and finding it difficult to tear his eyes away from her). Eld himself was having a bit of trouble deciding what to wear; he'd tossed one of the outfits outright due to it looking more like half-destroyed armor than anything else. The one with the denim jacket he ruled out as well, simply because...well, for a store like this it seemed kind of plain.

The other three were all some variety of suits; he couldn't decide, and it wasn't until the an ornery employee came and said something about the white one matching best with whatever Etsu picked so he just went with that. Akizetsumei was always bugging him about expanding his wardrobe into brighter colors, and it didn't get much brighter than this. Though for some reason, he felt a little depressed when he put it on.

Incidentally, Eld had a sixth outfit as well, but he'd dismissed it as simply a piece of some other outfit that got left in the room by accident.

When he finally emerged from the room, he looked around, a little embarrassed; this suit was way more attention-getting than anything he was used to wearing. He would've probably got more self-conscious if he hadn't then seen Etsu.

Etsu looked...well, she looked gorgeous. And very, very attractive. Not staring was impossible; she didn't look like she was fourteen to begin with, and now she actually looked like she could be older than him. (He wasn't sure if his own suit made him look any older himself.)

He tried to say something about her looking nice, a kind of compliment because that's what you did when a girl tried on a new outfit, but all eloquence left him momentarily and all he could say was, "W-Wow..."

[Nayt]

Etsu stood outside of her dressing room awkwardly for awhile, unable to do much more than wait and try to ignore the fact that this dress was gathering much more attention than she expected. Was it the red? Were people's eyes attracted to the red of the dress?

When Eld finally got out of his dressing room, Etsu was treated to a real sight. No, seriously. The girl's ability to be sarcastic was reaching maximum efficiency over the past few months, but she felt no sarcasm in her mind at all. In fact, all she could do was stare at Eld, at first wide eyed, followed by a brief moment where she bit her lower lip and smiled some. That suit looked amazing on him. It fit him just perfect, and the colors, well-- they made him stand out where he normally did not, really bringing attention to everything else about him. His face, his figure--everything. This was the most attractive she'd ever seen him.

She caught his stare in no time, though . . .

And quickly enough, her face turned about as red as her dress. On one hand, she wanted to thank Eld. On the other, she wanted to stamp on his foot and kindly remind him where her eyes were located. He was lucky he looked so nice and he was double lucky that she hadn't tried on any shoes yet, because if she had heels, she wouldn't have been able to help herself.

"Y-- you r-rook . . . very handsome, Tsukimono-kun," she said as nicely as she possibly could. It was true! But she was just really embarrassed, and . . . well . . . whenever Eld looked at her like that . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld suddenly realized that the place he was staring at was not the place he should be looking at while talking to Etsu; he forced himself to raise his gaze, but really that only helped a little. She was so dazzling all around right now that it was difficult for him to keep his composure no matter where he looked.

"Y-You too. Well, not handsome, more like pretty, but--"

Fortunately, before he could make any more of a fool of himself than he already had the well dressed man with the thin mustache returned.

"Ah, what a lovely pair!" he exclaimed, sounding quite pleased. "Yes, this will do quite nicely. Alright, no more dallying, there'll be plenty of time to stare at each other later, this way, this way."

He corralled them over to a small alcove, and set them in front of a backdrop of red with pink hearts on it; though even as Eld was noticing just how gaudy it was he heard the well dressed man say, "Alright, now look this way."

When he did (and Etsu would no doubt look too) he got rather surprised by the sudden flash from a camera he'd overlooked.

[Nayt]

"Ano . . ." she bit her lower lip, ". . . th-- thank y--"

But before she could get it all out, she was interrupted by the man with the pencil mustache and pulled away to some remote location in the store, all prettied up with pinks and reds and whatnot, and suddenly Etsu had even less of an idea of what was going on.

At some point, someone was going to be developing a photograph of the two of them. This photograph was going to be decidedly awkward, in part because of one individual: Etsu, when the photograph was snapped, looked as if she were born ignorant. As if she had no idea who she was, where she was, who she was with, or what crazy language they were speaking. Her brow was wrinkled and her eyes were in the midst of moving all around the store. Someone out there was bound to have a laugh over the matter, at least, even if it wasn't her.

Etsu rubbed her eyes. The flash was bright and numbing, leaving nothing but a white light in her eyes every time she opened them. Eld, standing by her side, would probably be able to hear her grumbling, too.

[Zach Kaiser]

It seemed that the well dressed man knew this too, for immediately after taking the picture he frowned. Well, the standing picture was the boring picture anyway; so long as the others turned out better it would be fine. It was just like his luck to get a good looking pair and have them turn out to be country rubes.

"Alright, for the next picture, get closer; stare into eachother's eyes, hold hands or something--or hold each other like you're dancing. Something like that."

Still blinking away the spots from his vision, Eld could only reply, "W-What? Why?"

"Promotion, that's why," came the irritable reply. "You guys want free stuff (doesn't everybody) and I want some pictures for advertising. Win-win, see."

[Nayt]

"N-- naze desu ka?" she muttered under breath.

But, of course, she knew why. The man with the pencil 'stache already told her why when he was talking to Eld. There were strings attached to their free stuff deal . . . which really begged the question, what deal? They never made a deal. They were just told they were customers number so and so and therefore they were going to get some free stuff out of the deal. So, what--was it worth it? Whore themselves out for the loathsome capitalist for some free stuff? On one hand, of course it was worth it.

On the other, she had it in her right mind to deck this guy. She was not a poster girl. Not this kind of poster girl. Not without long term consent and maybe a contract and maybe a running chance for a modeling career, which was not at all something she'd considered before.

Etsu looked up to Eld, trying to see if he was willing to fight this. If he was going to do it, then so was she. If he wasn't going to fight it, then . . . well . . . she really had no idea what she was going to do. This whole mess was a brand of crazy that she'd never had to deal with before.

[Zach Kaiser]

Seeing that the two duped yokels lucky customers were reluctant to continue, he sighed in frustration. He hated having to explain every little thing; it was like these people had no faith. Or business sense, for that matter.

"What's the problem here? Camera shy or something?"

Eld glanced at Etsu, who was now looking to him; it seemed she had as many reservations about this as he did. "Well, for starters, we're cousins."

"Hey, I'm not one to judge."

"We're not together!" he vented suddenly, his volume rising. "And this all seems kind of..." he trailed off, not wanting to say shady as he intended and risk offending him. "We'd like to know exactly what the deal is, okay?"

"Alright, alright, and sorry, meant no offense. (Jeez, kids these days, no sense of humor.) Okay, here's how it is: you guys walked in, you'll get a gift box for free, even if you walk away now, okay? And I'll give you an outfit per picture--not counting that first one, that one was kind of sad. So give me a little lovey-dovey picture here and you get those very spiffy outfits you're wearing. I know, I know, you're not together," he preempted Eld, who was about to open his mouth. "But what's the harm in pretending? If you're worried about family or something like that just turn your faces away a little--not too much, want to see a little bit, but really it's the outfits, they're what we're advertising, not you."

It took Eld a few seconds to process that, the man could speak fast, but while he wasn't entirely sure, he indeed could not see the harm in it. It wasn't as though they knew anyone who visited Galaens terribly regularly.

He gave Etsu a sidelong glance. "Well?" he asked. He was on the fence about it, so he'd leave to her to decide whether or not she was comfortable with it.

[Nayt]

Etsu was weary of this already. Not only was this guy highly convinced that they were together-- at first, at least --but he was really geared up to take advantage of them without their knowledge. How much money was he going to make off of them? Off of Eld, at the very least. She didn't know how good she'd be for advertising at this point, but Eld would make so much money for this guy . . .

Then Etsu had a thought.

". . . an outfit per pict-ure?" Etsu asked with a lifted brow.

She folded her arms over her chest and thought it over. What was that thing she was learning about in classes last year? The law of equal return?

"Donoyouni sho--" she began in Cizokian, but cleared her throat soon after.

This guy probably didn't understand her language, even though she would've had a much easier time haggling that way. She leveled a stare at the man, one that threatened to turn to a glare at any moment, provided she was ever given an answer she displeased of.

"How many pictures do you in-tend to take?"

[Zach Kaiser]

The man thought about this for a moment, analyzing them. There were a lot of pictures he wanted to take, truth be told, but...well, he could get in trouble for using youngsters for any racy pictures. Which was a shame, because racy pictures would definitely be good advertising, but while any publicity was good publicity he wasn't quite willing to go so far as to get arrested for more customers.

"Just one more after this one; only if you're up for it, of course," he said hastily. "Besides, I can't afford to give away too much merchandise. But we'll get to that picture when we get to it, yeah? Let's just worry about if you want to do this one first."

He wasn't sure they'd go for the second picture; locals their age (or what he estimated to be their age) would have jumped at the chance, even siblings! But he wasn't sure they would, and he didn't want them getting in a huff and walking out. He wanted at least one good picture out of this.

[Nayt]

Two pictures, two outfits each. That was satisfactory to her. Though, she had a bit more in mind than that. This guy was an up and coming entrepreneur, right? In starting a business, risk were necessary. That was something else she learned from school.

Etsu held up two fingers. "We wir-rr agree to two photo-graphs."

This was not at all taking Eld's feelings into account. If he had a problem with this--well, whatever. He could vent this issue later. She was currently attempting to do business, something she was sure he was weak minded on (as he was on many subjects).

"I wir-rr agree to two sor-ro photo-graphs after," she nodded her head somewhat, so sure of what she was about to say, "At cost of one more outfit, for me, and com-mis-sion of ten bronze coin per week you use for ad-ver-tise-ment. For ar-rr picture."

She didn't want to sound too harsh. This meant he could hang as many of the two subsequent solo pictures up as he wanted for only ten bronze coins a week--which was a pretty good deal, she figured.