The department store attendant folded both hands behind her back, leaning forward towards the cafe duo. On her golden apron, the same cursive lettering logo spread across her chest, glowing just as brightly as the practiced wide smile. The cheerful girl's wavy black hair cascaded down her back, two strands popped out from the front. Being as cute as she was, there was no surprise that she was chosen to be one of the greeters. Before Kanashima could manage a response to the adorable young woman, Cipher matched the employee with his own, equally bright customer service smile from the coffee shop.
"Hi! We're just here to see Ray Taylor. Is he in?"
"Oh! Yes of course! Right this way, pretty ladies!"
Pretty? Surely talking about Cipher.
Walking through the expansive first floor of the department store, Kanashima's face went through about twelve different phases of surprise, shock, and curiosity. The ground floor was dedicated specifically to large furniture pieces, none she could have ever hoped to have owned beforehand. Some of them were so unique and high class that she couldn't even name them, much less tell what they were used for. Passing by a decently sized dark brown couch, she could've sworn she had at least seen this exact one before. Her body knew the comforts of these specific leather cushions and were drawn to it once more.
"Oh, that's the same model that Serafin owns!"
Ah, so that's why.
"Must get paid… pretty well."
"Yeah, you could say we make a pretty penny."
"What's a penny?"
The department store worker continued to lead them deeper into the consumer labyrinth of the first floor, eventually ending up at one of the many central pillars. Pressing a few buttons, the side facing them opened up into an internal platform. Stepping to the side, she raised one of her flawless hands and gestured for her two guests to enter the elevator.
"Right this way, ladies."
The elevator was a sensational experience for somebody like Kanashima, being lifted by a single panel created such a stark contrasting feeling. She felt her body rising, but at the same time, her two feet connected to the ground told her otherwise. Looking out of the frosted windows was the only way for her to know for sure that they were still going up to a new floor.
As the floors continued to scroll past the group, the employee glanced down at a Goldweavers branded device, tapping a few buttons away. Nodding, she turned to the customer duo just as the elevator let out a two toned announcement. The sliding doors opened up from the middle once more, revealing an open area just as opulent, if not, more than the first floor.
"I'm terribly sorry, Taylor is wrapped up in an appointment for a few minutes. I'll pencil you in for his next slot. In the meantime, please feel free to browse our store."
"It's quite alright, we'll be okay from here. Thank you for your help."
"Of course, if you need any more assistance, please locate one of us with the gold apron."
With both small hands behind her back once more, the attendant bowed towards the two, staying on the elevator. The doors shut once more, becoming flush with the wall, and she embarked on her journey back down to the first floor.
The clearing in the forest of cloth and fabric was illuminated by the same warm, golden light that trickled through the rest of the building. Several smaller tables were set out to separate the racks and hangers from the golden tiled walkway, housing small garments and accessories of several kinds. The four tables immediately after the elevator housed several different sorts of precious metals formed into bracelets, necklaces, and any other sort of opulent accessories imaginable.
Near each of them was a mirror about eye level, likely for customers to try things on. Seeing herself inside the reflective glass, Kanashima stepped forward to get a better look at her marred face. Her finger came up and traced one of the various scars, wincing at each groove. Dark violet eyes stared back at her face mimicking the facial expressions of herself.
"Oh… it is purple? The poster said grey still."
"Everybody changes to match. Takes a couple days to settle in."
"To match?"
"Yeah, match your own electrical signature. In some people's cases, they already did."
The amaranthine irides certainly matched her color. She couldn't see inside of her, but her entire nervous system somehow knew the pigments were the same. By extension, her plasma bolts from Mark of the Void also correlated in color, and so the sparks emitted by her bug of misfortune.
"Sometimes the hair changes too, like mine. My sisters still have our old natural black. Look."
Coming up behind her, Cipher's thin fingers combed through her unkempt locks of hair, careful not to pull on the multitudes of knots plaguing the strands. Letting them fall, small amounts of purple highlights dropped around her face.
"It's kind of hard to tell with how matted your hair is, but you got purple highlights! You'll see Mirren, she also has highlights."
"How odd."
"Not particularly, our eyes are directly connected to your brain, they're bound to have our electronics shine through."
"You're very knowledgeable."
"Comes with my Intrinsic!"
The two were only able to explore about a quarter of the fourth floor before the same high school aged employee located them in the middle of the Adrienne's section. After greeting the two in the same manner as before, she led them to the other side of the building and into one of the many side rooms. A small seating area in the front provided seating for the coworkers, leaving them on one of the cushy benches before disappearing into the back once more.
"Don't worry, we can go back to the Adrienne's after this."
Confused, but unwilling to question it at the moment, Kanashima only nodded in response. She still didn't really know what was so significant about Adrienne, and whatever she owned. There were no worries she had to begin with, weren't they just here for this guy specifically? Unless there was some unknown mission detail, the significance of where they were was unclear.
The door separating the employees from the waiting customers cracked open once more, a much larger man clad up in the same Goldweavers apron approached the two. Cipher stood up to meet his greeting head on, his perfected grin already plastered across his face. A single leather glove met white fabric in between the two of them, clasping together into a firm handshake.
"Cipher! Been a while, heard from Sera you were coming by. Is this the new gun?"
"Just for one mission, sir."
"Fat chance of that. You know you won't be able to truly run free after tangling with us, right?"
"Yes."
I did not. What does he mean by that?
Rolled eyes and a scoff clarified absolutely nothing more for her question. It was already clear enough most people were much more informed than she was, and he would be no different. If she had to guess, Cipher must've been at least a little bit in the know too. Just what exactly did she agree to?
"Alright, whatever. Not my monkeys. Follow me."
"Sorry about that Kanashima, he's rough around the edges for everyone."
"You're just too sweet on everyone."
Ray's studio was fairly expansive for how small the room looked from the outside, able to contain all sorts of works in progress, tools of the trade, and drafted designs. A full body mirror on one of the sides was left clear, and it was that location that she was guided to. Ray disappeared for a moment, grabbing a tape measure from one of the sides before standing behind her once again.
"Alright, just going to get some measurements, then I'll fix up the stuff Serafin requested for you. Gonna need your clothes off for this one."
Nodding and complying, she spent extra time pulling her shirt all the way off her left arm and dropping it to the side. Soon enough, her violet eyes stared back at her bruised, scarred, and variously injured body. Once again, the massive, fist sized hole in her left shoulder stood out way more than any of her bare parts.
"Goddamn, what mission they got you doing looking like that?"
Writing down some initial observations onto a notepad, he placed the pen and paper down on a neighboring table and stretched the measuring tape across her shoulders. After adjusting the tape a few more times along her collarbone, he retracted the roll and noted down the numbers.
Growing up with two sisters drilled many of the common lessons into his head, such as redirecting his gaze away from the changing woman. He already knew the hubbub around her left shoulder anyway from the earlier incident, there was no need for him to turn around. Instead, he decided to focus on something displayed in the air from his phone and responding to the department store tailor.
"We're going to go assist Mirren."
"What's up with her?"
"Dunno, she just issued a code yellow and requested a combat Intrinsic."
"Who is…?
"Right there in front of ya. Rush job."
"You're kidding."
Moving down her frail and battered frame, his measuring tape was now wrapped around the rather thin waist. He noted down an additional three numbers down, continuously adjusting the placement.
"You gotta get some meat on your bones if that's true, girlie. What happened to Eyja?"
"Not a clue. Gotta be pretty bad for Mirren to not do it herself though."
"That stubborn bitch. Can't believe they're sending ya with a thrashed shoulder like that though. What's Serafin up to?"
"Health inspectors."
"God-fucking-damnit. Ain't that just a treat?"
Wrapping the slack of the measuring tape back up, he took his final notes onto the sheet of paper and tore it off of its pad. A small amount of gold illuminated the sheet of paper, highlighting the ink before fading once again. Handing the sheet of paper to Kanashima, her purple eyes glazed over trying to understand the meaning of it all.
"What?"
"Your measurements. Help ya get some clothes that actually fit this time. Serafin got a couple pieces that she wants fixed up to your size, so I'll go get that done. Just sit tight in the meantime."
The side room did an excellent job of blocking out outside noises and interference, not a single time did any of the trio hear commotion outside. That's why the three were surprised when there was some event so loud it rang into each of their ears, rocking the very foundation of the tall building itself. If they didn't hear the boom from the outside and didn't know any better, their first assumption would've been an earthquake.
"Well that can't be good. Maybe we should-"
"Be advised, Lady Kanashima. Two bogeys a click away, first floor."
Really? The Void now? What's going on?
Ray's communicator lit up in a violent fit of vibration, screaming for his attention. Tending to it immediately, the device shouted at the group of three alongside a dissonant alarm.
"The building is under attack, going on lockdown. Repeat."
The tiny speakers continued to assault the Wild Eyes' trio with its blaring alert three more times before Ray finally shut it off. The three of them turned to look at each other, a silent question hanging between the three of them. Cipher nodded towards the tailor, and received a response in kind, leaving her completely out of the loop.
"There's a computer in the waiting room."
"On it. Kanashima, with me."
Her visage transformed into various shades of confusion and reluctance, her violet eyes analyzing the state of her body in the mirror. Taking a little bit for it to click in her mission companion's head, his eyes widened in a sort of fright. Turning his back to the blueberry, he shouted once more before fully exiting the studio room.
"Get yourself dressed first! Then, come out. We're going to figure out what the hell is going on."
It can't be that much bigger of a deal than an explosion.