Oh right, she got so wrapped up in defending Beil it completely derailed her original pursuit.
"We initially came in here to buy morphing garb for a humanoid Ayakashi, meaning myself, but the majority of wares here seem rather extravagant. I prefer functionality over appearance," she stated outright, remembering a certain type of technology from back in her old life that looked pretty but would break every few days and made her spend more money on repairs than she ever would have on an uglier sturdier model.
The head clerk lion man, possibly the owner of the entire store, nodded his head and to Nova's surprise and mild delight, his whiskers on both his cheeks and brow bounced.
"I see, yes we do have a large variety of high quality items that are mainly for raising one's societal reputation, but as you said you are looking for something that will last longer than fancy wrapping paper."
Nova couldn't stop herself and giggled like a kid, making both the Lion man and Beil raise an eyebrow.
"What? Now all I'm picturing is myself wearing a layer of gift wrap and a little bow on my head." Why did she admit that out loud? Lion looked confused and intrigued and Beil looked aghast, so now she only felt embarrassed.
"Yes, well, I was referring to when nobles bring their daughters here to take their measurements for wedding gowns and the like, but that would not be a bad idea for a bedroom garment, thank you for the idea."
Nova's face grew hot and, though her scales thankfully stopped her cheeks from turning red, she avoided eye contact for the first time. Since she didn't have feet she studied the slate grey, well polished ceramic tiling as Lion politely stepped away and instructed his staff to fetch a particular box from the back.
"Have you done that?"
"Do what, no, never, " Nova flinched as the Kitsune staff member peered around the counter to look at her. She just wanted to sink into the floor and vanish at this point but she decided to force a mask and stared at the fox girl carefully, keeping herself still. Her eyes were very effective intimidation tools, and as usual, the girl looked a little uneasy before ducking back into hiding. Then Nova heard a tiny voice.
"Sorry, miss, I was just curious."
"No harm done," she managed and shifted her staring to the door the Lion and the other women went through until his tail came into view, and then the rest of him carrying a bulky set of boxes. Feeling like she needed to help, Nova was about to move when the two employees that had followed him as well as the other two, who were suddenly unoccupied by any other customers, rushed to his aid. Reaching for brownie points maybe? To make up for ignoring clients? Maybe they actually cared about him.
Well whatever, she was now more interested in the contents of the heavy boxes. Lion had used a claw to strip them of tape and lightly dumped them onto the counter for display. Three immediately made her uneasy, being bold and unnecessarily adorned with jewels; however, five were subtle and varied in shade and complexity. The sky blue one was where her eyes landed first and she was about to approach it when a glimmer caught her attention. Seeing its bright but gentle shape, she particularly liked the white one, it made her feel like even as a human she would resemble her snake self.
Lion had followed her eyes and watched her tail relax once she saw what she wanted, beelined for it, and held it up for her to see. He had slipped into a professional salesmen vibe and she was immediately bored. Why couldn't merchants at least try to feel more relatable?
"This white sundress is perfect for everyday wear, minus the tear with its durability and quality stitching. If you look closely you can see the carefully embroidered borders and sleeves with a cut that is both loose and secure."
"Let me stop you right there: I was not looking for a dress," she said evenly, holding her tail up like a hand. "I was actually looking for a fighting suit or a two piece for easier mobility."
"Yes you did mention functionality. These pieces are unique, hosting multiple versions of themselves. Observe," he said, sounding a little too much like a car salesman, but Nova watched him as his eyes glowed a red hue. The dress started to glow faintly as well before it shifted, becoming a well made pair of white overalls with silver buttons and a soft grey T-shirt. Then he shifted it into a long grey flowered white night gown for sleeping that kind of looked like it was meant for a much older woman, honestly. Then it turned into a very poofy, conservative gown with gossamer layers in many shades of grey, white, and even opalescent hues on the outermost layer of the billowing folds as well as on the full length sleeves. Not really her style though, it felt too ball room Victorian.
And, as the last piece, something that she actually agreed looked beautifully constructed, made her decide right then that if she left it behind she would probably regret it.
It was a sultry, trumpet cut, calf length, dark grey dress with a slit almost halfway up the thigh and a low V-cut neck line, a slightly lighter grey sash to accentuate the waist, tassled sleeves that allowed her arms through a little above the elbow and extended past to her knees that faded from the deep grey to soft white at the tips, and a single white artificial lilly pinned on the left side of the chest area.
After maybe a ten a second window to process, after taking in that last masterpiece which was obviously the key feature, Nova noticed something. "There is only one non-dress option available?"
"For now, but the morphing garb is fully customizable if you wish to add, remove, or change anything."
"I do, yes, but would that cost extra? And how much is this garb initially?"
Lion man's easygoing attitude faltered slightly but he moved right into the answer without missing a beat so Nova ignored it.
"The starting price for all the outfits I showcased is twenty-seven silver and four copper. To get these fitted is an additional three copper, and customizing or adding any of them is a silver each."
Nova winced internally and casted a side glance to Beil who nodded like it wasn't a problem to even consider before going back to browse at neck ties. With that Nova had a request.
"Could you please take the night gown out and replace it with a fighting suit?"
"Of course. What color, style, and fabric?"
"Black base color with white detailing at your discretion, a white two inch wide, thick belt long enough to wrap around my waist two and a half times, a relaxed fit Dobok cut, and whichever fabric that breathes well."
"Excellent. The lady knows exactly what she wants, I'm impressed. Now, could you please allow Harume to take your measurements and we can get started? There is a changing room in the back right corner."
Nodding and following the lizard tailed girl, Harume, who carried a little bag with her to the far right corner, Nova saw booths with curtains covering the entrances and sighed. More risk that someone could just pop their head in by mistake, or as one of her unfortunate happenings while living her human life, on purpose to see her naked.
Swallowing the memory like a necessary but disgusting pill, lesson learned and everything, Nova pulled back the curtain.
Irony is cruel sometimes. The woman who she had seen wearing multiple different dresses throughout their visit was standing there in her birthday suit with a look of pure horror, covering what she could with her handbag.
Nova jerked the curtain back into place, whipped around, and was about to slide right on out of the entire store before Harume motioned for her to use the unoccupied changing room. Expressionless and almost mechanical in moment, she shifted into it, throwing a rigid glance her way.
"Your boss should really invest in doors."
"There have been several suggestions lately, yes."
Nova waited until she received an okay and shifted with her back facing the curtain. Her hair flowed down and it dawned on Nova that it felt a little longer now, reaching her lower back.
"Oh my."
"W..what is it," she asked slowly while staring at the paint on the wall. Talking with her mouth felt a little odd now but she brushed it off.
"You have a very lovely human form."
"Really?"
"Oh yes, gorgeous hair, smooth back, narrow shoulders, thin limbs, creamy skin. Although," she said with what sounded like disappointment.
"What?"
"You don't really have a plump backside, it goes straight from the small of your back to your thighs."
Nova burst out laughing, covering herself and turning to glance at the shameless girl to see her expression which shifted from slight sadness to surprise and immediately into a weird expression that could only be described as envious and dumbfounded.
"But your face takes the cake, and your eyes are extremely rare gemstones," she finished and Nova sighed. Not only was that cheesy, her eyes were just icy blue, what was so special about them? Lots of people had blue eyes. You know what? Compliment battle. Here we go.
"Well your eyes are like fresh mangos, they light up your whole face. I like yours better. And your honey colored hair and heart shaped face are to die for, not to mention your Kim Possible lips."
"My what? Wait, hold on. You said you like my eyes better? I don't understand how you're capable of saying that when you have spirit eyes. Many of us would gladly kill to have those. Besides, I'm getting older, it won't be long before my hair looses it's bounce and I start getting creases in my face."
Woah wait, back up, new information. "Spirit eyes?"
Lizard girl's hands stopped and the measuring rope slipped to the tile. She looked a little baffled.
"You didn't know? Has your boyfriend not told you that your eyes shift with your spirit energy?"
"Boyfriend?!"
"I'm just going to stop talking," she muttered and started measuring Nova's not-so-ample cleavage, well at least not compared to hers. She bet Harume's back hurts sometimes. As soon as she she was done Nova covered them by crossing her arms.
"Wait, no, he's just a friend but what the heck are Spirit eyes?"
"Oh." Putting down her tools and taking notes on a clip board, the Lizard tailed girl smiled like a grade school teacher. "Kinsoul don't often have the ability to use spiritual energy, which almost always comes naturally to Hidden Realm born Ayakashi and Yokai. Hense, when a Kinsoul has an abnormally high potential and will power, a truly unique and beautiful phenomenon will occure due to hightened emotions or energy usage where the eyes briefly hold many shifting colors like an oil spill, or at least many variants of their original eye color.
"In your case, when I first saw your eyes after you shifted into your human form you had several hues of blue, purple, and light maroon, but they've settled back into that icy stare of yours."
"So what if I get really angry or sad?"
"Yes, your eyes will get more colorful for the most intense part of your emotional state."
"Cool. Good to know. Good thing I'm a calm, cool, and collected person."
"Not always, you did get flustered a bit about the wrapping paper. Ah, just like that! Look how pretty," she squealed and dug a compact mirror from her bag, holding it up so that Nova could look at her own eyes.
They were briefly swirling with teal and pink colors before her own curiosity quenched the intense embarrassment and made them fade back to normal. Without the shifting colors her eyes were just like ice cubes with artistic outlining. Nova smiled.
"That was... new to me. Thank you."
"You love to learn, don't you?"
"Mhm," Nova nodded and spun around so that Harume could measure her nonexistent butt.
"Have you considered the acadamy in Youto? I heard they have the best professors in the Hidden Realm."
"Is that close by?"
"Yes, only a two week travel by air, three months on land though. You are lucky your friend out there has wings."
"Um, I think that was the school Beil had in mind originally. Maybe? I'll have to ask him."
"His name is Beil?"
Nova's head raised up from looking at her no longer freckled arms and she glanced carefully into Harume's eyes, which made the girl freeze like a deer in headlights.
From Harume's perspective she was suddenly having a staring contest with a predatory creature of superior phisical and mental strength. Those eyes... There wasn't a hint of malice or dangerous intent when they were casually talking, or even when she had openly embarrassed the snake girl, but maybe her traveling partner was a sensitive subject. If he was the same Beil as before though...
"That's a nice name," she said instead of what she wanted to ask and Nova looked back at the wall. Harume visibly relaxed and got back to work.
Twenty minutes later, they were done. Nova's measurements were taken and the outfits were magically altered to fit her physique, and Harume was officially worn out. It had been silent for the rest of the curtain time and when all was said and done she was going home early. It wasn't every day that she met one of the Great Ones. No matter how casual a demeanor she had currently, that snake would someday be capable of doing great things, but weather those things are for the good of creatures and people, or terrible things, her impact on this worlds history is going to be huge.
Completely unawares, Nova stepped out in the overalls outfit and felt like she finally had a decent human form. She was all smiles when she walked the floor, even when all eyes were on her and her subconscious was screaming for social mercy. Walking with a mask of confidence, she was really starting to feel pretty good looking.