Shopping is Better with Friends

Posted on 14 Sep 2017 @ 7:38pm by Ensign Mimi & Petra Varelli Ph.D.

2,211 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Greater San Francisco
Timeline: MD 30 1900 hours

ON

Petra had finished her classes for the day and wanted to get away from the Academy and do something totally frivolous. So, she headed for one of the larger malls across the bridge to see if she could find something fun to buy.

She wasn't sure if she wanted clothes, books, jewelry, or something to decorate her temporary quarters, but she figured she'd go looking and see what caught her fancy.

A few meters ahead of Petra just coming off the end of the bridge was Mimi, she was just out for a walk but her curiousity was leading her straight towards a large shopping centre not too far away.

It was hard to miss the Nekomi, even in a crowd. "Mimi!" Petra called, running over to the other woman. "Hi! What are you doing here?"

Mimi's ears twitched when she heard someone call her name and she turned in the direction of the voice to see Petra running towards her. "Hi Petra. I am just out for a walk, thought I would have a look at this centre."

"I hear it's pretty spectacular," Petra said, grinning. "I'm here to do some shopping. I have a free evening."

"I might do some too, though it can hard to find clothes that fit me properly because of my tail." Mimi motioned to the dress she wore and the hole added to it to poke her tail through.

"Well, why don't we shop together?" Petra asked. "I'm sure we can find something in here to suit your needs. And mine."

"I would like that, Petra." Mimi said with a smile. Turning she resumed her walk towards the shopping centre.

Petra fell in step beside Mimi, happy to have someone to shop with. She didn't mind shopping, but it was always better with friends. "Is there anything in particular you're looking for? she asked.

"I am not sure." Mimi replied "I like collecting little things from different species to go in my collection."

Petra grinned. "Me, too. Let's see what we can find."

Gradually Mimi and Petra made their way through the doors into the shopping complex, there were shops from all over the federation and beyond. "Where should we start?" Mimi asked.

"Do you know rock, paper, scissors?" Petra asked. "If not, we can try eenie, meenie, miney, mo."

Mimi cocked her head to the side a little. "I do not know what those are." She told Petra.

"Then your education in earth culture, my friend, is sorely lacking," Petra said with a wide grin. "Okay. It's a game to see who goes first. Each one of the items has a hand gesture." She showed MImi the sign for rock, paper, and scissors. "You hit the fist of one hand into the palm of the other three times, like so." Petra demonstrated. "Then on the fourth time, you do one of the three gestures--and only one of the three gestures. Vulgarities are not permitted, although some have tried." That she wasn't going to explain. "Now, here's how you know who wins. Rock breaks scissors. Scissors cut paper. Paper covers rock. Got it?"

Mimi's ears twitched a few times as Petra explained the rules, it seemed a very simplistic game to her, maybe something that young children would play rather than adults. "Why is it that humans like to leave things to random chance?"

"Well, sometimes we don't want to decide, or can't decide," Petra said. "For me, if I don't like what chance decided, I'll simply change the rules." She grinned at Mimi. "I think some men prefer arm wrestling, but I won't arm wrestle unless I can cheat. I don't have the manual dexterity or the strength necessary to win."

"That does not make sense." Mimi said after a few seconds pondering "If you have left the decision to chance but do not like the result you can not just change it to what you want it to be."

"Well, no," Petra had to admit. "But for me, if I'm having a hard time deciding, and I flip a coin, roll dice, or use some other method of random determination and I don't like the answer, it means I subconsciously wanted the other one. So, while it makes no sense, it makes perfect sense." She grinned at Mimi. "Don't try to figure it out. Let's go see if we can find some clothes that will suit both of us."

"Ok." Mimi smiled and led Petra to the nearest shop.

It was a small shop with two dresses and a pair of very high heels in the window display. "I'd break my neck if I wore those," Petra muttered. "This place looks expensive. Let's see what they have."

Petra opened the door and walked into a small room that had a number of dress designs along one wall, three tables with chairs , and a counter. The back wall had a floor-to-ceiling curtain

"May I help you?" A woman said. She was human and dressed in a pleated skirt and white blouse. She looked the two over, clearly not impressed by either.

"We're just browsing," Petra said, looking at the dresses on the wall.

"One does not just browse at Madame Moray's. One comes to be fitted for one of our distinctive line of women's dresses or one leaves."

"Have you made dresses for Caitians before?" Mimi asked, while she wasn't a caitian it was often easier to describe herself as a caitian.

The woman looked Mimi over and sniffed. "Yes, but a tail ruins the silhouette of the dress," the woman replied.

"There is nothing I can do about that I am afraid." Mimi said, she was a little unsure about the woman she seemed a little rude.

"You can look at the fashions, but they may not be to your...taste," the woman said, waving to the display on the wall. "I can also suggest a shop that specializes in non-human species."

"Some human clothing does fit me better than some non-human clothing." Mimi countered.

"You know what," Petra said, stepping up to her friend. "I don't think this woman wants our latinum. Let's go find another shop."

The saleswoman just smirked. "I'm sure you and whatever slips you may have will find better use elsewhere."

Without another word Mimi turned and left the shop.

Petra was right behind her.

After Petra joined her Mimi turned to her. "She was very rude, do you think she does not like aliens?"

"I think she doesn't like anyone who isn't rich enough to buy this station," Petra grumbled. "I don't want to spend that much latinum on anything. Did you see what she was charging for one dress? I could fill a stateroom with clothes for that price."

The two women turned a corner and found another dress shop. This one had a wider selection. It was even playing music. "Let's try here," Petra said.

"This does look nicer." Mimi said as they stepped inside.

"And more affordable," Petra added as she looked around. "Are you looking for something in a dress or pant?"

"Well." Mimi started. "I like dresses, that was almost all I wore back on Kemi even when it was cold, not that it got very cold on Kemi with it having two sun's."

Petra grinned. "You can never have too many dresses." She led Mimi over to the area where there were half a dozen racks of dresses in all sizes and colors. She pointed to a sign on the wall. "For a little extra, they'll customize them, too."

"I guess all these will cost extra for me then." Mimi said as she slowly rifled through the dresses.

"It depends on how well you barter, and how much the two of us buy," Petra said. She grinned at Mimi. "If we get enough, they might throw it in for free."

"Is that your reason for buying as much as you can? they may add things for free?" Mimi asked, she picked up an unusual dress, it had a very wide neckline, short sleeves and a short, frilly skirt that was longer in the back than the front. "What do you think of this?"

"I think it's cute. Try it on and let's see how it looks," Petra said.

"Ok." Mimi quickly scurried off to a changing room, she returned a minute later, "I like it apart from this bit." She turned to show Petra the back of the dress where because of her tail there was a very noticeable bulge.

Petra walked around Mimi, carefully examining the dress. "You know, a discrete place for your tail would fix that. A good seamstress can make it look like it was always made that way."

"That is the thing, almost everything I get has to be changed to fit me, I even had to program the replicator to make my uniform have a hole in for my tail." She gave Petra a twirl for good meaure. "What do you think would go well with this?"

"Shoes, accessories, or what?" Petra asked.

"Anything." Mimi replied. "I am not that good at... fashion."

Petra grinned. "Leave it to me." She led Mimi and the dress around the shop, selecting shoes, earrings, necklace, shawl. "Do you like hats?" she asked," selecting a hat just in case.

"Hats do not fit around my ears." Mimi said as she was dragged around the shop.

"Okay then, no hat. They aren't really in fashion right now, but they can be nice if it's cold," Petra said. She put back the hat and then set everything on a table at the back. "Now, is there something else you want to look at?"

"What you would pick?" Mimi asked rifling through another rail of clothing this time of shorter skirts and blouses.

"Hmm," Petra said, looking at the different colors and styles. She pulled out three skirts and four blouses and hung them sideways on the rack so Mimi could look them over. One had a short pleated skirt in blue with a pale yellow crop top blouse. One was a full skirt in green that stopped just above the knee. She paired it with a lighter green blouse with spaghetti straps. The third skirt was dark brown, short, and snug with a fitted long-sleeved blouse in cream. The last was a green jumper with a long-sleeved white blouse. "Any of these suit your fancy?"

"I like this one." Mimi said pointing to the green skirt and the lighter green blouse.

"Great. Try them on, they should fit pretty well, except for the tail," Petra said. She put the others back on their respective racks and continue looking for something she thought Mimi would like.

She came back a few minutes later with three formal gowns, one strapless, one with spaghetti straps and one with long sleeves. All had simple, straight lines and empire waists.

"You're right, it fits ok apart from my tail." Mimi said when she emerged from the changing room back in her original clothing.

"Great! So, that's two outfits. Now, you need a little black dress. Every woman should have at least one."

She went through the shop again, pulling out several that she thought would be good for Mimi and a couple she thought suited her, too. She also found a little dress she liked in a bright blue. She grabbed another in green for Mimi.

When she returned, she lined up the dresses for Mimi. "You try these on. I've got a few I want to check out."

For an hour the two looked at clothes, selected a few, accessorized, and added what they wanted to keep to a growing pile.

When they were done, Petra found a woman who worked in alterations and brought her back to the table. "See? My friend needs alterations so her tail can hang out of her clothes. Since we're buying all this, and the alterations are fairly simple, we'd like them included for free."

The woman looked at the pile, then at Mimi and Petra. "Which ones need to be altered?"

"Oh, yes." Petra indicated one of the two piles. "Those. Just the ones that cover her tail."

The saleswoman did a mental tally and then nodded. "I think I can do that. It'll take two days, maybe three. Is that acceptable?"

Petra turned to Mimi. "Fine with me. What do you think?"

"That is fine with me too." Mimi replied. She turned to the sales woman. "Do you need the size of my tail?"

The woman pulled a tape measure out of her pocket and nodded. "Turn around, please." She quickly measured the circumference of the tail and its location in relation to her waist and hips. "That will do. Thank you."

When they were done paying for their clothes, Petra asked, "Is there anything else you need, or should we find a place to eat?"

"I think food is a good idea, I am hungry." Mimi replied.

"Perfect! I know just the place," Petra said, grinning. "I know just the place."

"Ok, lead the way." Mimi fell in alongside Petra and they headed for the exit.

____
OFF

Ensign Mimi
Operations Officer

&

Petra Varelli, PhD
Forensic Anthropologist

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