A Different Place - 12 Hungry Youkai !GGKI3UTr5s 2008/11/03 (Mon) 19:11 No. 65969 ▼ File 122576827924.jpg - (133.00KB, 714x1000 , sample-8a3b27bf619c5879498bb5a09ad56be9.jpg)
"N-no." You say. "You should p-pick your clothes Renko." You say.
She raises an eyebrow at you.
"I-I mean, we c-could ... we s-should be prepared ..." You trail off, feeling bad. You're right, but you don't want to have to face that reality just yet, you want to stay in here, playing with Renko and relaxing, but you know you can't.
She shouldn't be wearing anything that restricts her movement. When she fought with the swordsman, Youki, she was like a whirlwind of motion, a human knife, slipping everywhere at once. That skill of hers, whatever it really is, can't be left behind for the sake of having her look attractive. She's sworn she will protect you, and there's no reason to curb her ability to do so.
However pretty she looks in that skirt.
"I understand." Renko says, nodding, not smiling now. "And I'm glad you're taking it seriously."
"I ... I am?" You suddenly feel very sad. Doing this with Renko lets you forget what has happened, but now it's all going to come crashing back and there's nothing you can do to stop it.
She nods. "Yes. You are. Not many people would adapt so fast to this." She smiles at you, a little sorrow in her expression. "You're doing really well, okay? Trust me."
"Mmm." You nod, feeling a little better. Renko is better at this sort of thing than you and if she says you're doing well, then you trust her. You smile back, thanking her inside.
"Well then." Renko turns back to the wardrobes. "Let's see."
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Once Renko emerges from behind the screen again, you've learned that 'practical' doesn't have to mean 'boring'. She's even more happy with what she managed to find than you are, and you're very happy.
She's picked up a skirt very much like her old one, but a darker shade, closer to black than brown. It's wide and loose, fanning out when she moves, giving her as much range of motion as if she wasn't wearing anything at all. The effect is rather pleasing on the eye.
She's exchanged her old shirt for what looks like a cross between a pull-over and a silk blouse. It's one of the oddest garments you've ever seen, white with red swirls of patterning down the sleeves. You can see none of her curves under the thick, loose fabric, but the shirt itself gives her an air of simplicity. It's aesthetically, if not sexually, pleasing. When she moves her arms it's a little disorienting, almost as if you can't quite see the direction they're moving at first, the red patterns confuse the eye. The sleeves are even baggier than the rest of the garment and she slips her hands in and out of them a few times before producing her knife from go-knows where and then hiding it in the end of the sleeve.
"Oh." She breathes, eyes a little wide. "I like this."
"What is it?" You ask, genuinely curious.
Renko shrugs. "I don't know but I bet it was custom made." She grins to herself, a totally different expression to the one she usually shows you. "Whoever made it knew lots about concealing things."
"Oh?"
"Yes." Renko grins up at you. "It's perfect." She goes back behind the screen and grabs her hat.
"How do I look?" She smiles at you.
"Good!" You say. "R-really good!"
"Thank you." She does a little mock bow, slipping her knife out the end of one sleeve and into the other in one seamless motion as she straightens back up.
"I like this." She grins again.
"I-I'm going to get ch-changed too." You say, feeling a little bad. After all, Renko picked these clothes for you.
"Yes." She says. "I mean you look fantastic in that but the skirt is a little much." She grins, winking at you.
"Heh." You can't help but smile at her compliments. "O-okay."
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In the end you settle on keeping the white polo-neck, though you shed the underwear in favour of something more simple. The skirt goes, sadly enough, and you replace it with a pair of jeans. Nothing like the crappy old ones you used to wear all the time, but a pair of brand-new jeans, tight against your thighs and hips, loose around the knees. You could run in these if you had to.
You keep the beret.
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"Ahhh, that was fun." Renko stretches her arms once you both step back outside. She looks a lot more comfortable in that odd jumper that she did in her old clothes. More relaxed, shapeless and furtive rather than tense. Maybe it has something to do with all the stuff she emptied out of the pockets of her jacket and concealed in there. Now when she walks she's less like a person constantly expecting danger, more like a floating ghost of silk.
She turns and grins at you. "Shall we go see Ran?"
[ ] Yeah, head back to the kitchen, you're starving.
[ ] Actually, where's Satori resting?
[ ] Nah, go sit outside with Renko for a bit.
