"Eyyyy, look who's back. The diamondbacks and their polished up geode. Ain't that right, miners?" Puhak goes to his friends, egging them on as we leave the shop. Although we went in there for me and my needs, I have the least. A simple container with my new monokini and some other things. All stuff Mui and her friends insisted I should have.
I'm not sure if I'll really need any of it, though. One of these things is a towel, I don't even need a towel! Rest is all creams and other stuff... I... I don't even know what I will even do with that kind of stuff. I'm not a girly girl.
"Ok... Got what I came here for. See you at the party...?" I let out, clutching my box with uncertain pressure. Do I treat it like a treasure I cannot afford to lose or a simple box? It's not worth the mind or thought, so why do I even bother? Gods and goddesses above this is unnecessarily complicated.
The group all laugh and I find myself alone and quiet. I look around, unable to gauge what to make of the moment and its meaning. Puhak steps up, moving an arm around onto my shoulder. I follow along, moving my eyes to follow his outstretched hand.
"No. Now you go and get yourself as polished as these gems," Puhak says, looking back with a white-toothed smile that gets nothing but giggles. I blink and cock a brow, unsure of that. Getting some new clothes is one thing, going to a place where I've got all these people touching my nails and quills...? I feel unsafe.
"Don't worry about a thing. That place is amazing with how you can walk in," one of Mui's friends goes, her paw jostling her quills and the decorations on it. Several more of them twirl around, showing off their backs and how fine they are. I step a bit closer, keeping my paws to myself as I look closer. This all does look quite nice.
Their quills have a shine I've never seen my have and they all seem to like it. It's not just them, either, so many other people in this mall have it as well. Polished and finely trimmed quills dipped in glitters and oils or hooked with chains. My back is a barren canvas just waiting to be worked on.
"Is... Is this sort of stuff easy to remove...?" I ask, not sure how frail all of this stuff is. My life is not exactly one for being pampered and dolled up in. If anything, it's more of a hinderance than anything. Ways to track and hunt me.
"Oh, don't worry. I think it takes me about a month between big sessions? So long as you're not rolling around in mud." a friend of Mui waves off and the group get to talking about their circumstances. It quickly becomes nothing more than noise to me and I focus on Puhak as I adjust my grip on the box.
"Anything particular, Gem?" he asks me, pinching index and thumb together again and again. I glance at the weird gesture and back to his smile.
"Are you able to take me back... Home... After I get this done?" I ask, and his smile goes away, his brow sinking.
"Why? Nothing to worry about," he goes, the care in his voice not sounding all that pure. All this slang talk of gemstones and mining and polishing, and he feels nothing but opaque in a bad way. Pops is so simple to figure out, and he shows nothing. Puhak here shows everything and that says nothing in the wrong way.
"I want my... I want my dad to see while it's fresh. You know? Bread right out the oven and all that." I say, my cheeks turning dark as my imagination gets to work. They go quiet, watching my face and break out into laughter, and it only makes it worse. My instincts flare up, warning me of their reaction. They're all laughing and I've done nothing funny. Laughing and pointing...
"Awwww. That's so adorable!" Mui squeals, coming close and taking my paw into hers. She and her friends start to drag me again. My feet slip about, finding their footing way too uncomfortably late.
"I almost want to ride back with her to see her dad's reaction!" one friend giggles.
"You just want to see if he's a slug or a hunk," another scoffs, getting a scowl from the still giggling girl. I try to smile and huff over it. I'm not sure what Pops would think or do about a bunch of young women swooning after him. But something tells me they're not going to be all that glittery in the eyes when they see his rough demeanour. City girls like them would never understand.
"Bring her back in one piece, engine will be hot and ready to put out!" Puhak calls out, his friends gathering his attention and taking him out of sight. One of Mui's friends gets in my way, moving way too close for my liking. They start to play with my quills, showing no care, respect, or regard for my person. All I can hear them go on about is what to do with them.
"Problem is, it's not exactly as if they're well looked after." Mui says, her tone louder than everyone else's and almost intentionally. Her smirk still doesn't sit right with me and I don't want to hear remarks about my quills. They're the one thing I have that's actually close to being girly. It's the only thing I can do to really be like a normal girl.
"Stop touching me!" I snap, some hands getting a bit too close to places they shouldn't. The friends don't seem to hear me and Mui steps in, running a paw down my back.
"You heard her, space, girls. Space." she says, her ego battering us all aside. I shake my head and blink, not at all used to dealing with such an obnoxious personality.
"Let's just get this over with." I huff, picking up the pace to get out of the danger Mui's friends surround me with. I come to a stop in front of the shop and glance back at them, their pace having not changed at all. Putting my attention back on the shop front, I roll my eyes and look at the display pictures. Examples of their work or maybe some generic product they found elsewhere.
The interior looks nice enough, I suppose. Everything looks like it's there for comfort and joy. But I can still see and feel like there's something off about this place. There's space for me to go, I can see that... But I can also see how it all works.
A lot of the women in here are talking to those who work here. Going on and on about a conversation with their friends and the rest of the shop. I'm going to be going into this and never get involved. I won't say a word and will have no idea what to say.
This might be them, but it's not me. Stuff like this just isn't me. Will Pops even like it...? He's always been so firm in the past about things like this.
"Mm, quite the conundrum, hm? I am utterly lost and I know where I am and where to go." I let out, putting my focus back on the pictures of what the place offers. Much of what I see on Mui's friends and so much more. I can choose colours, styles and even tip dyes. Nail paints and fur brushes. It's all here.
All within my grasp and well within my budget...
"What do I even want?" I ask myself, Mui's voice and that of her friends becoming borderline next to me. I turn around and look at them, their attention split between all the different things they have done to themselves. I look it all over and feel an odd split in myself. A want to be different and stick out and a want to fit in.
A me I know exists, a me I am unfamiliar with and a me I do not even want to know. I want to spend at least a short period more like a regular girl and yet... I don't want to. So much about this makes me uncomfortable and I do not feel safe. I don't understand how these girls can be happy with how restraining their circumstances are. How controlling Mui openly is to them.
I stick with Pops because I have to, he is my dad and I love him very much. But he's also the safest person I can ever be with. He has the skills and experience to not just save my life, but to save his own at the same time. Mui is just controlling for the sake of it. An ego for which all must sink to the depths of.
She gets in my face, smiling with closed eyes and a paw on my shoulder. I move back a bit, feeling my quills go up against the glass. I look back at her, an unusual timidity to my eyes as her grip shifts. She moves closer, her grip urging me to the door.
"Let's get started, shall we?" she goes and I nod, moving along with her as we enter the shop.
"Oh, my, don't we have a picking right here, Mui?" the woman at the counter asks and Mui starts to laugh alongside her. I blink and look around, not understanding this moment at all.
"I know there's a lot. But it's just Heiya here. It's a bit of an emergency, as you can tell." Mui... Explains?
"Well, that is certainly no problem at all, Heiya. Let's get you seated then, shall we?" the woman asks me, her hands putting a lot of emphasis on the name tag she has on. I give it no focus and head over to what looks like a cushioned table. I put a finger on it, digging into it as others make use of them, too. A frown hardens my face, and a paw guards my zipper.
"I'm not wearing a whole lot under here..." I whisper close to the woman and she giggles.
"No worries, Heiya, dear! First thing is first, we have just got to get all of this tension out of you. A proper bathing experience is our starting point," the woman explains, pointing out a part of the building that is around a corner.
"You'll love it, trust me," Mui says, her hand flapping in the air as the woman urges me ahead.
"I haven't even paid for what I want..." I let out and the pair laugh.
"You wouldn't be here if you couldn't afford it!" the woman scoffs, and all that tension she just talked about grows thrice in size. More people like Mui. Great... Just great.
"Right..." I let out, scowling at the pair and heading into the backrooms to get this sorted. A pair of women go by me, wrapped in pristine white towels. One around their bodies, another on their heads for whatever reason. I find a changing room and scratch my head as I watch others come out in swimsuits.
I look carefully at my box and open it up, pulling out my monokini. Switching into it, I shuffle my body around and frown at how uncomfortable it suddenly feels. My shoulder hiccup and I find a spot to store my things. Certainly an odd pile I have, considering what all these other women have in their box things.
"Time to get started, I suppose." I mutter, stepping out into a steamy wonderland filled with bubbling baths and mud. I double check and stare at one woman as she relaxes in a bath of mud. Actual mud. What the...?
My instincts get my legs moving, taking me straight to a regular bath instead. None of what anyone is doing means anything to me, so I just slip on in. I keep to myself and hold my legs close, a miserable expression coming to my face. Is this pool party worth it?
It doesn't feel like it will be. But I want to experience one, at least one. Do a normal thing that normal girls do. Not something people like me do. A moment to feel like everything that has happened never did.
"Just me and my thoughts, an endless stream of bubbles everywhere else." I comment, closing my eyes and putting in all the effort I can to block out the world around me.