**Akane**
“So, how do I look?” Taylor asked as she stepped out of the apartment’s bathroom. It had taken almost twenty minutes for Sabah and I to calm Taylor down from the incipient panic attack that she had started into, but once we did, Taylor had been willing to at least give the outfits a try. In turn, Sabah had led us to a three-bedroom apartment close to the border between the ABB and the Merchants. The building was run down, and the apartment was full of people, but an older woman who I gathered was Sabah’s mother or aunt ran the children out of the apartment in short order to give the three of us the room we needed to work. Most of the outfits Sabah had set aside for this were going to be long on me, as the model they had been planned for hit almost directly between Taylor’s five foot ten, and my own five foot five. This of course meant that while they would be long for me, and a touch short for her, we needed to see how well she wore them before seeing if hemming them up for me would work better.
Turning, I looked at her and felt my jaw drop. Her hair had been pulled back into a scrunchie just behind and below her neck framing her face while the sky-blue sundress, which would have hit me mid-shin, sat with it’s hem just above her knees. My eyes dropped to her bare feet once more, and I tried to lift them up to look at her face, but I just couldn’t get past the hem of the skirt. My inner otaku was currently head desking, knowing that if this were an anime or manga that at best, I would be turning beat red with steam whistling out my ears, and more likely have comically catapulted over backwards due to an explosive nosebleed. Thankfully neither of these happened, and yet I was still unable to answer or raise my view past those marvelous legs to look my friend in the eyes.
“'araa 'ana hadha hu mjrd alainhiraf biqadr ma kunt abnat” the older woman’s voice said finally dragging my attention away to the now laughing woman in a hadjab. “ela alaql hdha alnawe jadhdhab nsbyana , ela alrghm mn 'an 'iizhar qadr kabir min aljuld yjb 'an yakun mkhjlana lieayilatiha.”
Now, even as something about what the woman said felt familiar, I could feel the blush starting to warm my cheeks. “al'umu , nahn duyuf fi hadhih al'umat , yjb 'an naetaniq bithaqafatina kathaqafatina hataa” Sabah said to her before turning to me and Taylor, “I’m sorry,” she said to us, “my mother forgets we are no longer in Arabia and should embrace American culture even while gifting your nation with our own.”
“Did,” I started and then gestured for Sabah to come closer. She leaned in and I whispered in her ear, “Did your mother just call you and I both perverts?”
Sabah’s eyes went wide as I said that and then leaned back and nodded. “You know how to speak Arabic?” she asked, and I shook my head no, “Then how?”
“I don’t know,” I answered, “it was practically instinctual.”
“al'umu , nahn duyuf fi hadhih al'umat ,” her mother said pointing at me. “yjb 'an naetaniq bithaqafatina kathaqafatina hataa”
“It wasn’t like that madam,” I replied causing the woman to raise an eyebrow. “I was confirming what I thought you had said, and the problem is that I don’t know how I knew it.”
“Would not be only person here with power.” The woman croaked out before laughing and tottering off toward one of the bedrooms. Not that it mattered as instantly my head snapped first to Taylor who was looking at all of us wide-eyed before I turned back to Sabah who had just gone pale as a sheet.
****
“Well,” Sabah said after her mother had left the room, everyone still looking at the door that had closed behind the woman. “If Akane’s response is indicative of the reaction you will receive, then I have very little that I will need to do with things. Maybe take in the waistline with a ribbon belt to emphasize your hips and arrange for the stage to have a pair of open toed three-inch wedge heels. What do you think Akane?
“It looks really good,” I muttered just loud enough to be heard trying to focus on something other than Taylor’s legs. Of course, it was at that moment she decided to spin around, causing the skirt to flair out and highlight her legs even more and me to mutter under my breath, “Supiritto wa sore o teirā ni kuruwaseru, anata wa sore o itotekini yaru koto sura nai.”
“You need to get into one of the outfits she has for you as well Akane,” Taylor said a moment later, causing me to look up at her as she bent over toward me with one of the outfits in her hands. “I want to see what you look like in this one.”
“You’re starting to get into this aren’t you?” I asked taking the dress with a slight grimace and starting toward the bathroom. I had worn skirts as a part my school uniform because I had to, but I was definitely not a fan of them, especially ones as confining as this outfit would be.
“Sorta,” Taylor said with a shrug as Sabah started to tinker and make various adjustments to the sundress. “It at least brings back happier memories of my childhood.”
I nodded and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind me before I started stripping down to change clothes. The dress thankfully tightened with ties, so there were no buttons or clasps to have to deal with except for around the neck. Design wise, the dress was arguably a cross between a classic, spaghetti strap little black cocktail dress and an Ao Dai. The whole thing was a royal purple with a cut-out lace front backed with a slightly paler purple to show the shapes in the lace. The straps that held it up at the shoulders and connected the collar were about an inch wide and as I settled the dress into place, let the bosom of the dress sit a little lower than was probably intended. As I had figured, the skirt for it was similar to a LBD’s pencil skirt giving very little room for someone to move above the knees. Thankfully it did stop at the knees instead of going for the full length that a normal Ao Dai would, but again the height difference between me and the intended model shifted the actual skirt down below my knees.
Finally dressed, I stepped back out of the bathroom in a shuffle instead of my usual stride, “Definitely need to adjust the lengths of something here Sabah,” I said before looking up. Taylor was beaming at me in that blue sundress which had gained laces up the sides and between the breasts while I had been getting dressed, and now Sabah was coming over with a critical eye towards what changes and adjustments she was going to have to make to this dress to make it work for me.
“Yes, this definitely is the one for you,” she muttered adjusting the top section and pinning the straps where they needed to be before kneeling down to adjust the skirt. “Take in the hem a little and it will be perfect.” Internally I groaned, knowing this was going to be a long and drawn out process.
**Taylor**
I looked up from the kitchen table as dad walked in from work, “Hey dad, how was your day?” I asked sliding away the book I had been reading.
“So, so,” he answered, “Do you have any preferences for dinner tonight, or should I just pick somewhere to call for delivery?”
“I’m going to make us a salad to go with the steaks and potatoes I’ve prepped,” I told him with a smile. “Then we can eat once the steaks and potatoes have cooked.”
Dad smiled at that as it had been a while since we could afford steak, “Sounds good to me, but I can sense you either want to ask for something or are wanting to do something.”
“How?” I asked, wondering how he knew that I wanted to ask something.
“I’m a parent,” he answered, “Even when you were hiding what was happening at school, I knew something was happening, just not what, nor really how to ask.” At that point he sighed, “I’ve spent a bit of time talking to Hannah,” I looked at him questioningly, “Agent Washington.” He answered and I nodded. “Anyway, we’ve been talking, and she explained that sometimes you just have to come out and ask bluntly, so what is it you want Taylor?”
“I want to invite Director Piggot and Akane out to dinner to thank them for all they’ve done for me and for us.” I said and smiled as dad nodded. “Plus, Akane and I were asked to model a student’s designs at a local fashion show next Sunday, so I figured we could go out to dinner afterwards.”
Dad nodded in thought, and then, apparently in agreement “Sounds like a good idea,” he said sitting down at the table across from me. “Now, tell me about this fashion show.”
“So, how do I look?” Taylor asked as she stepped out of the apartment’s bathroom. It had taken almost twenty minutes for Sabah and I to calm Taylor down from the incipient panic attack that she had started into, but once we did, Taylor had been willing to at least give the outfits a try. In turn, Sabah had led us to a three-bedroom apartment close to the border between the ABB and the Merchants. The building was run down, and the apartment was full of people, but an older woman who I gathered was Sabah’s mother or aunt ran the children out of the apartment in short order to give the three of us the room we needed to work. Most of the outfits Sabah had set aside for this were going to be long on me, as the model they had been planned for hit almost directly between Taylor’s five foot ten, and my own five foot five. This of course meant that while they would be long for me, and a touch short for her, we needed to see how well she wore them before seeing if hemming them up for me would work better.
Turning, I looked at her and felt my jaw drop. Her hair had been pulled back into a scrunchie just behind and below her neck framing her face while the sky-blue sundress, which would have hit me mid-shin, sat with it’s hem just above her knees. My eyes dropped to her bare feet once more, and I tried to lift them up to look at her face, but I just couldn’t get past the hem of the skirt. My inner otaku was currently head desking, knowing that if this were an anime or manga that at best, I would be turning beat red with steam whistling out my ears, and more likely have comically catapulted over backwards due to an explosive nosebleed. Thankfully neither of these happened, and yet I was still unable to answer or raise my view past those marvelous legs to look my friend in the eyes.
“'araa 'ana hadha hu mjrd alainhiraf biqadr ma kunt abnat” the older woman’s voice said finally dragging my attention away to the now laughing woman in a hadjab. “ela alaql hdha alnawe jadhdhab nsbyana , ela alrghm mn 'an 'iizhar qadr kabir min aljuld yjb 'an yakun mkhjlana lieayilatiha.”
Now, even as something about what the woman said felt familiar, I could feel the blush starting to warm my cheeks. “al'umu , nahn duyuf fi hadhih al'umat , yjb 'an naetaniq bithaqafatina kathaqafatina hataa” Sabah said to her before turning to me and Taylor, “I’m sorry,” she said to us, “my mother forgets we are no longer in Arabia and should embrace American culture even while gifting your nation with our own.”
“Did,” I started and then gestured for Sabah to come closer. She leaned in and I whispered in her ear, “Did your mother just call you and I both perverts?”
Sabah’s eyes went wide as I said that and then leaned back and nodded. “You know how to speak Arabic?” she asked, and I shook my head no, “Then how?”
“I don’t know,” I answered, “it was practically instinctual.”
“al'umu , nahn duyuf fi hadhih al'umat ,” her mother said pointing at me. “yjb 'an naetaniq bithaqafatina kathaqafatina hataa”
“It wasn’t like that madam,” I replied causing the woman to raise an eyebrow. “I was confirming what I thought you had said, and the problem is that I don’t know how I knew it.”
“Would not be only person here with power.” The woman croaked out before laughing and tottering off toward one of the bedrooms. Not that it mattered as instantly my head snapped first to Taylor who was looking at all of us wide-eyed before I turned back to Sabah who had just gone pale as a sheet.
****
![[+]](/images/collapse_collapsed.png "[+]")
Translations“Well,” Sabah said after her mother had left the room, everyone still looking at the door that had closed behind the woman. “If Akane’s response is indicative of the reaction you will receive, then I have very little that I will need to do with things. Maybe take in the waistline with a ribbon belt to emphasize your hips and arrange for the stage to have a pair of open toed three-inch wedge heels. What do you think Akane?
“It looks really good,” I muttered just loud enough to be heard trying to focus on something other than Taylor’s legs. Of course, it was at that moment she decided to spin around, causing the skirt to flair out and highlight her legs even more and me to mutter under my breath, “Supiritto wa sore o teirā ni kuruwaseru, anata wa sore o itotekini yaru koto sura nai.”
“You need to get into one of the outfits she has for you as well Akane,” Taylor said a moment later, causing me to look up at her as she bent over toward me with one of the outfits in her hands. “I want to see what you look like in this one.”
“You’re starting to get into this aren’t you?” I asked taking the dress with a slight grimace and starting toward the bathroom. I had worn skirts as a part my school uniform because I had to, but I was definitely not a fan of them, especially ones as confining as this outfit would be.
“Sorta,” Taylor said with a shrug as Sabah started to tinker and make various adjustments to the sundress. “It at least brings back happier memories of my childhood.”
I nodded and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind me before I started stripping down to change clothes. The dress thankfully tightened with ties, so there were no buttons or clasps to have to deal with except for around the neck. Design wise, the dress was arguably a cross between a classic, spaghetti strap little black cocktail dress and an Ao Dai. The whole thing was a royal purple with a cut-out lace front backed with a slightly paler purple to show the shapes in the lace. The straps that held it up at the shoulders and connected the collar were about an inch wide and as I settled the dress into place, let the bosom of the dress sit a little lower than was probably intended. As I had figured, the skirt for it was similar to a LBD’s pencil skirt giving very little room for someone to move above the knees. Thankfully it did stop at the knees instead of going for the full length that a normal Ao Dai would, but again the height difference between me and the intended model shifted the actual skirt down below my knees.
Finally dressed, I stepped back out of the bathroom in a shuffle instead of my usual stride, “Definitely need to adjust the lengths of something here Sabah,” I said before looking up. Taylor was beaming at me in that blue sundress which had gained laces up the sides and between the breasts while I had been getting dressed, and now Sabah was coming over with a critical eye towards what changes and adjustments she was going to have to make to this dress to make it work for me.
“Yes, this definitely is the one for you,” she muttered adjusting the top section and pinning the straps where they needed to be before kneeling down to adjust the skirt. “Take in the hem a little and it will be perfect.” Internally I groaned, knowing this was going to be a long and drawn out process.
**Taylor**
I looked up from the kitchen table as dad walked in from work, “Hey dad, how was your day?” I asked sliding away the book I had been reading.
“So, so,” he answered, “Do you have any preferences for dinner tonight, or should I just pick somewhere to call for delivery?”
“I’m going to make us a salad to go with the steaks and potatoes I’ve prepped,” I told him with a smile. “Then we can eat once the steaks and potatoes have cooked.”
Dad smiled at that as it had been a while since we could afford steak, “Sounds good to me, but I can sense you either want to ask for something or are wanting to do something.”
“How?” I asked, wondering how he knew that I wanted to ask something.
“I’m a parent,” he answered, “Even when you were hiding what was happening at school, I knew something was happening, just not what, nor really how to ask.” At that point he sighed, “I’ve spent a bit of time talking to Hannah,” I looked at him questioningly, “Agent Washington.” He answered and I nodded. “Anyway, we’ve been talking, and she explained that sometimes you just have to come out and ask bluntly, so what is it you want Taylor?”
“I want to invite Director Piggot and Akane out to dinner to thank them for all they’ve done for me and for us.” I said and smiled as dad nodded. “Plus, Akane and I were asked to model a student’s designs at a local fashion show next Sunday, so I figured we could go out to dinner afterwards.”
Dad nodded in thought, and then, apparently in agreement “Sounds like a good idea,” he said sitting down at the table across from me. “Now, tell me about this fashion show.”
Wolf wins every fight but the one where he dies, fangs locked around the throat of his opponent.
Currently writing BROBd
Currently writing BROBd