NOVEL WEB Chapter 4: Fashion Police
“What are you wearing!?” Plynx blurted as she stepped into the employee lunch room.
“A new outfit. I bought a few,” Svetlana replied, crossing her arms and doing her best to emphasize her height for the sake of authority.
She was glad that, unlike Cartridge, she hadn’t lost any height with the change.
“That…” Plynx began, before pausing to take in the outfit some more. Her face turned red as she did.
Thisbe gave a nod, blushing herself. “It’s quite forward.”
“Are you wearing platform boots?” Augusta added.
“Yep!” Svetlana replied with a grin. “Do you like them? It took a bit to find my size, I’ll admit.”
“You’re already over 180cm tall,” the blonde woman said, sounding confused.
“So?”
“It certainly adds to your presence. Quite befitting an empress,” O’tmyil said, wearing a smile as her eyes sparkled.
Literally. She used her artificial nature to pull expressions that were impossible for any biological organism to mimic at times. Especially after Svetlana and Cartridge had introduced her to cartoons.
Her enthusiasm drew glares from the other girls, who hurried off to huddle in one corner, whispering quickly between each other. Realising they were going to take a while, Svetlana walked over to the fridge. She pulled a pizzarotti out of the freezer and tossed it in the microwave as the girls continued their debate.
“Have you thought about a cape?” O’tmyil asked as she and Svetlana watched the highly processed pizza-adjacent food spin in the microwave.
“A little. They’re not a common accessory on Earth these days, though.”
O’tmiyl nodded, thinking deeply about the matter. As she did so, the timer beeped and Svetlana pulled her pizzarotti out. She was about to sit down to eat when the three fiancées broke their huddle.
“We-fiancées have come to a conclusion,” Plynx announced. “It is quite inappropriate for a male temporarily changed into a female to dress like that.”
Svetlana raised an eyebrow. “I get that it’s shoulderless, but it barely shows off any chest.”
“It shows off significant chest!” Plynx protested.
Augusta shrugged. “I have frequently worn more revealing tops than that.”
Plynx turned to her, still frazzled. “But you-Augusta are a woman! And… not helping our position!”
“I could get changed,” Svetlana replied, “but I’m not sure you’d like the other outfits I bought today any more than this one.”
“What’s wrong with your old clothes?” Thisbe asked.
“They’re boring,” Svetlana said, crossing her arms to pout.
Because she felt she could, now. Girls were allowed emotional range, no? Unlike guys who were supposed to be flat and subdued, with the only outlet of anger… well, happiness was probably allowed, but had always felt so distant. Now, though. Now she was going to embrace emotions.
Plynx, Thisbe, and Augusta blushed as she pouted. Svetlana followed where their eyes had drifted and realised her crossing her arms was emphasizing certain new features. She decided to have a little fun with that reaction and walked over to stand in the middle of the three of them.
“Enjoying the view are you, girls?” she asked, leaning forward and towards each of them in turn as she spoke.
All three turned delightfully more intense shades of scarlet at that.
“This is inappropriate!” Plynx shouted, before storming off down the stairs, her face still red.
“This is affecting you worse than I thought,” Augusta added, her face just as flushed as she turned to follow her feline rival.
Thisbe, however, stayed quiet as she stared. She didn’t move, which sparked Svetlana to raise an eyebrow as she tried to ignore the pain of how the other two reacted. How they couldn’t see her happiness.
“You have changed, but… I think I need to see more, before I decide anything,” the petite vampire said.
A wave of joy washed over Svetlana at the toehold of acceptance and she lifted Thisbe into a hug, spinning her around in the air. “Thank you! Thank you!”
“I do not wish to cut short your jubilation, but I believe the pizzarotti is in danger of dipping below optimal temperature,” O’tmyil said as Svetlana stopped spinning to just hold Thisbe in a hug.
“That can wait,” Svetlana said, still holding a confused Thisbe in her arms.
“I didn’t say I was accepting how you were now; just that I was giving this a chance,” Thisbe added.
“Yeah, I know. But it’s better than Augusta and Plynx,” Svetlana said, breaking the hug to give Thisbe a smile.
Thisbe had been true to her word, sitting peacefully on the couch near the main tv as Svetlana and Cartridge ‘manned’ the store. While Cartridge clearly wasn’t yet comfortable with the feeling of a vampire quietly watching her, Svetlana had more than gotten used to Thisbe’s presence. As such, she had a significant advantage as she and Cartridge played through various racing games to pass the time.
A confused customer showed up at 1:47 am, though it turned out that he had mistaken the store for a video game themed bar. Cartridge scooted over to offer him space on the couch, as their game could handle four players. The new arrival wasn’t great at playing, clearly at least mildly inebriated, but that helped Cartridge feel better about herself after her losing streak.
At least until they took a break, Svetlana wanting to stretch her legs. The man took that as an opportunity to slip his arm around Cartridge’s shoulders and start his best pick up lines. The redhead froze up while turning pale as a ghost. Svetlana’s mind raced through responses. Her old go to in university, when a female friend had had an unwanted guy latch on, was to play the part of the boyfriend, but that wasn’t going to work anymore.
She briefly debated the option of playing girlfriend, but: a) wasn’t sure if that would discourage this guy nearly enough, or b) whether Cartridge might read too much into it, as she was traditionally desperate where girls were involved. As she floated in indecision, and the man leaned ever more into Cartridge’s personal space, Thisbe leapt up from her seat and floated over, grabbing the man by the collar and lifting him into the air with one.
“I recommend you read the room, sir,” she spat as her eyes flared red.
“Tha—uh—fangs,” the man stammered.
Thisbe licked her fangs as her face shifted into a smile. “Mhm. Vampire fangs. Luckily I’m not hungry, so I’ll let you leave if you apologize.”
The man nodded furiously, so Thisbe set him down. He then dropped to a full prostration, begging Cartridge for forgiveness. The confused redhead gave a nod, which the man took as acceptance and an excuse to bolt out of the store.
There was a moment of silence before Thisbe let out a deep breath. “That was the right thing, right? I don’t really know how forwardly men flirt these days… did I overdo it?”
“No, no. That was good,” Svetlana replied.
“Excellent stuff!” O’tmyil added, clapping lightly.
“I think I’m in love,” Cartridge said, staring up at Thisbe.
Thisbe glanced down at the redhead before her eyes filled with fright. She sidestepped and glided over to latch onto Svetlana’s arm.
“I’m taken!” Thisbe said, her cheeks red.
Cartridge let out a sigh before sliding off into clearly deep thoughts. Svetlana paid her only minimal attention, though, as her focus became fixed on the way Thisbe was holding her arm. The shorter woman looked up at her, and Svetlana felt comfort and acceptance flowing from her.
Not just metaphorically; as a vampire, Thisbe had empathic abilities which flowed both ways. As shy as she was, she rarely projected, and more had a tendency to get swept up on the emotions of others. But, right now, in this moment of quiet, Svetlana was picking up the feelings of love from her.
She offered a soft smile, leaving a question unspoken.
Thisbe blushed, but nodded. “You’re so full of happiness now. I can not deny it. This has been good for you.”
Svetlana’s smile grew from ear to ear and became significantly dorkier.
“I’m not sure why my acceptance is more exciting to you than O’tmyil’s, though,” Thisbe muttered, cheeks still scarlet.
“Ah. Well, O’tmyil accepted so quickly, I figured that she was going to accept me whatever happened, with her whole determined loyalty thing,” Svetlana replied, turning to look at the holographic alien woman. “Right?”
O’tmyil looked up from the instruction manual she was reading. “Hmm? Oh… No. No. As I’ve said before, I am loyal to anyone I deem worthy to wield my power, but I’m not romantically interested in most. Monitoring your vitals, I could tell your neurochemistry became significantly healthier with the change, though… I am also, I believe the most fitting term is, pansexual? So I’m quite happy either way.”
Svetlana’s eyebrows raised, while a confused look flashed across Thisbe’s face.
“Wait. If you’re a girl, Kev—Svetlana, then… am I still… am I…” she muttered, before blurting: “Kiss me!”
Svetlana blinked. “Pardon?”
“It seems like the quickest test. So, kiss me,” Thisbe repeated.
Svetlana stared down at her for a moment, but couldn’t think of a reason to say no. So she leaned in and gave Thisbe a kiss, once again feeling the fun of brushing her tongue across Thisbe’s fangs. That always sent a jolt through her favourite vampire, and got a happy moan out of Thisbe.
As they broke the kiss, Svetlana kept her face near Thisbe’s, getting lost in her deep red eyes. She’d never understood what she’d done to get so many wonderful girls to fall for her, but she was starting to feel like she might have a chance to make herself worthy of them.
“That was nice,” Thisbe said softly.
“It was,” Svetlana replied.
A jingle from the door distracted them, and left Svetlana briefly wondering if this was going to be a record night for customer flow. At least until she saw it was Mynx, the small feline alien looking much more docile than she had the previous night.
“Hey kid, what’s up?” Cartridge asked, as Thisbe and Svetlana scooted apart, blushing.
Why, Svetlana wasn’t sure. She supposed she felt like being romantic with a girl other than Plynx while Mynx was around might end with the younger alien princess getting the wrong idea. Luckily Mynx didn’t seem to notice what had happened, instead placing her hands on the top of her head in what Svetlana had learned was her people’s equivalent to a bow.
“We-I—I have come to most apologize for what w—I have done to you two. The—I did an overreaction,” the young princess replied.
“You turned us into babes,” Cartridge said. “That’s nothing to apologize for.”
“What she said,” Svetlana replied. “You’re all good, Mynx.”
“You two are not upset? Big sister is upset. As is the Earthling princess.”
“It’s a lot to process,” Thisbe replied.
“For those who thought they were straight,” O’tmyil added, not looking up from the manual she was reading.
Which Svetlana was pretty sure was a different manual than the one she was reading earlier. It begged the question as to why she was reading them, especially since most of them had been separated from their original games years before arriving at the store. Could they really be interesting? She’d always just popped games in and tried to play them, figuring out rules as she went…
Ignoring that line of thought, as she long ago learned O’tmyil’s interests were deeply unique, Svetlana decided to invite Mynx to play some games with them. Though it was mostly with Cartridge as Svetlana was starting to get tired. She hadn’t gotten much sleep in the last 24 hours after all.
She awoke with a start when Mynx let out a cry of distress. Looking around, Svetlana realised Thisbe had left, while Cartridge had passed out and was snoring. O’tmyil was behind the cash register, presumably covering for the fact that the actual employees had fallen asleep.
And Mynx… Mynx was staring at the tv, tears on the edge of her eyes. Looking over, Svetlana realised she’d been playing an old city building game. There were giant monsters, tornadoes, and fires destroying the city, which reminded Svetlana of how she usually played the game as a kid.
“You-me did not save?” Mynx mumbled, barely audible from Sveltana’s place beside her on the couch. “Zyn, why? My city…”
Svetlana blinked, not following in the slightest.
“Zyn? Who or what is Zyn?” she asked between yawns.
Mynx’s ears shot up in fright as she hopped to her feet. “No one! No one. Not an anyone!”
Svetlana blinked a few more times, not processing what that meant at all. She shook her head and got up, heading over to the till to check the time. It was still only 4:30 am, which left half an hour until the morning crew showed up (they were always just barely on time). Otherwise known as probably how long it would take to wake Cartridge. Unless…
“O’tmyil, can you make an air horn noise?”
Instead of saying ‘yes’, and inquiring why, or for any other details, O’tmyil responded with her decibel perfect mimicry. Which prompted Svetlana, Mynx, and Cartridge all to jump. Cartridge fell on the ground in her dazed confusion, while Mynx attached herself to the ceiling with her claws, leaving Svetlana the only one on her feet.
“Was that a satisfactory recreation?” O’tmyil asked.
“Y-yes. Yes,” Svetlana replied, her ears still ringing.
O’tmyil smiled.