♫ Kiichi
"暗黒時代 (The dark ages)"
- ... And the sound of the rain
Aiesu held up her index finger, signing the universal for 'wait'. Her other hand fished into her deep dark pockets, producing a broad rectangle of medical paper wrapped in fabric with an ear-loop over each side. A
medical mask.
The thing was set carefully over her mouth, careful hands combing through her thick snowy mane to reveal prosthetic ears: flat almost featureless things embedded into the scar-tissue where her own ears once were. The ear-loops were set against a lifted part along the back, making her shuffle to reset her glasses.
Satisfied, Aiesu perilously made her way down the stairs, clutching onto the guide-rail for dear life, expecting her legs to fall under her at any minute as Sana could imagine they had countless times -- though the dorm had no elevator.
Finally, she pulled at the hood of her coat as she buzzed herself out with her door-key and produced an umbrella.
"There's nowhere anywhere in particular for me to go... I-I don't know what you're expecting" she said, those cerise eyes staring through fogged up lenses at the aliens behind her. The umbrella flowered above and with that, her gaze lowered and she turned about - walking out from beneath the dorm building.
Aiesu would negotiate a number of purchases from small quiet market-stalls and shops that wound through repurposed ship-hulls that stood vertically like sky-scrapers and outmoded crumbling parts of the tired sleepy city -- neon and rich beautiful paint-work across what would be meaningless surfaces, breathing life into the place. There wasn't much in the way of money here, but it had soul.
On her journey...
A number of teas, both domestic and foreign.
Hair-dye (black).
Lactose-free milk.
Wet-wipes.
Anti-bacterial Hand-wash.
Medical tape.
Gauze.
Disinfectant.
Painkillers.
Duqs, in a ziploc bag.
All in one shampoo/conditioner/bodywash shower-gel.
Some new books. Others returned, or sold on.
A cheap pair of reading-glasses. She debated contacts silently with herself but decided against it.
A market-stall, sat on a tall stool pouring an assortment of powders, seeds and diced roots into brown-paper-bags and weighing them. The old man was more interested in his news-paper, the place practically operating on a trust-system of sorts.
Aiesu left correct change, after tucking everything into her bag and zipping it back up.
Perfume, which she stared at begrudgingly for nearly five minutes, trying to work out whether she should buy or not, though she tried hard not to make it obvious. The scent was, judging from the aesthetic of the glass case and the kind of advertising around it, male -- and she the only female other than Sana in the store. Her nerves got the better of her. She had to leave.
An ice-cold slush drink of some sort - a deep warm brown in colour that she drank beneath the mask. She needed to cool off -- taking a long slow break -- sat on a soaking wet park bench, watching how the rain fell against her transparent umbrella. Even though it wasn't completely effective - a torn end dripping on her leg, she didn't seem to notice.
Next, some computer-parts which she debated buying - going through her wallet only to find the amount of money on her person didn't quite measure up. She debated going back for the perfume, realising again she couldn't afford it.
And now she stared through a front shop window as she made her way past. Prior, she'd had the blinders on, psychological tunnel vision. But this thing, presumably a replication of something resembling a shimmering gray/wite cheongsam caught her attention - the same colour as her hair, though the almost invisible highlights of washed ink were golden rather than cerise.
She walked by after a short pause.
She couldn't stare at it.
Not long after that, she finally stood before the station -- entering and taking down her umbrella, fluffing the excess water from it as she stared a time-table down -- pale hands tweaking her glasses to make sense of what she saw.
During all of this, she hadn't even looked at, let alone spoken to Miles or Sana and what few attempts had been made, she'd deliberately ignored.
It wasn't special treatment, however; She hadn't spoken to the clerks or shop-owners, either.
