Fashion Police!

                                                        By: Sorceress

 

            It was a lazy Saturday afternoon. Julia McHugh and Beth Calabith, the magic twins, were lounging around the living room of their house in the suburbs of Louisville. Beth was sprawled out on the floor reading a magazine while Julia was reclining in the easy chair, listening to the radio.

            “You know, Jules, I would have no use for modern technology if it were not for malls and rock n’ roll!”

            “I don’t know… I kinda like my car!” she laughed. “But I know what you mean. I miss the old days of magic too.” just then the phone rang. Julie sighed and rolled over to pick up the receiver. “Hello?” When she heard the reply, Julie bolted upright in the chair, causing Beth to look up from her reading to see what was going on.

            “Who’s on the phone?” Julia did not answer; instead she pulled out a pen and scrap of paper and began to scribble on it as she mumbled yeas and okays into the telephone.

            “Jules?” Beth repeated.

            “Great! See you soon! Bye!” Julie hung up and jumped from the chair. She was practically bouncing around the room. It took all of Beth’s strength not to strangle her to find out what was happening. Finally she calmed down.

            “Beth, you will never believe who was on the phone!”

            “For the hundredth time, WHO!”

            “Ryo!”

            “Really! Oh! How are the guys doing?”

            “Fine, in fact they are taking a trip… with the warlords!”

            “Oh? A little vacation huh? Where are they going?”

            “Here!” Julie was almost squealing and when Beth heard this she began to jump for joy as well.

            “Here? Are you serious? When do they get here?”

            “Tomorrow! Oh, I am so excited! I can hardly wait to see them!”

            “You mean you can hardly wait to see Dais!” Beth smiled.

            “As excited as you are to see Sage again!” The two girls embraced each other and began to jump up and down with hyperactivity. “Come on, Beth! We have got to clean this place!”

            “They are staying here?”

            “Yep” Julie answered.

            “It's a good thing that we're sorceresses! We can turn the empty rooms into fashionable guestrooms in nothing flat! Here, help me go through these magazines to find the perfect decors!” and with that, the two girls set out to prepare their home to greet some old overseas friends.

 

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            Beth and Julia sat at the airport terminal with nervous anxiety. The plane was to land at any minute. Every TransPacific plane they saw pass the window fired their blood pressures. Soon, the right plane pulled up to the jetway. Within a few minutes, that seemed to last an eternity, nine familiar smiling faces stood before them.

            “Mia, Ryo, Cale, Dais, Rowen, Sage, Sekhmet, Cye, Kento!” Julia and Beth made their rounds, hugging and greeting each of their friends. Beth even gave a hug to a very startled Sekhmet. Beth and Julie spent a little longer on holding Sage and Dais respectively.

            The ronins and Mia were dressed in street clothes and the warlords wore long overcoats, which hid their attire. This was their first trip to the states and Beth and Julie were eager to show them everything about American life.

After the ceremonial trip to the baggage claim, everyone headed out to the cars. During the stroll into the parking lot, everyone was busy catching up with each other. The twins had came in separate cars so they would have enough room to drive everyone back home. The luggage was packed tightly into the trunks and everyone began to pile into the cars, when Cale decided he was hot in his overcoat. The other warlords quickly agreed; the climate in Kentucky was definitely different than what they were used to in Japan and the Netherworld.

“Here, just toss those in the trunk.” Julie reopened the trunk barely in time to here a wolf whistle from across the parking lot.

Everyone turned to see a gristled, fat man holding a beer pointing at the warlords and shouting, “You boys queer or sumthin’? You always wear dresses, o’ are those just your bathrobes?!” Laughing at them he disappeared from view. This was when Julie and Beth first noticed that the warlords were wearing kimonos. Dais had on a beautiful white robe embroidered with silver thread spider webs. Cale wore a deep, midnight blue one with black shadowed mountains, and Sekhmet was dressed in a pale green, lined with golden thread and dark green embroidered scales at the neck, cuffs, and hem. As amazing as the three of them looked, in America no one wore kimonos and modern fashion trends would deem the warlords weird.

“What was his problem?” Sekhmet looked to the other warlords in confusion. None of them seemed to understand.

“Don’t let that guy bother you. You all look great.” Julia was trying very hard not to laugh. It would be rude, and she didn’t want to hurt their feelings. Although the entire situation was comical to her: 16th century warlords meet 20th century fashion.

“No, hold up. What did he mean, ‘bathrobes’? And for that matter, why did you insist on our wearing overcoats, Sage?” Cale stared at the ronins who immediately began to fidget and avoid his eyes.

“Is there something wrong with the way we’re dressed?” Dais asked.

“Well… It is just that people don’t really wear kimonos anymore, especially in America. They are, like, never seen. That guy was just surprised, and he dealt with it by making fun of you, which I don’t think was very nice at all.” Beth explained. The warlords exchanged embarrassed glances.

“Why don’t we stop by the mall on our way home and give our medieval friends a fashion makeover?” Julia asked her sister, who thought it was a great idea. Now, any guy who knew what a makeover was would have flipped out and refused to go, but the warlords are still a little ignorant about the jargon of the 20th century and agreed while Mia and the others held brief smiles. This is going to be interesting!

 

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Julia stopped the group at the center court fountain. The warlords were wearing their overcoats again and they were beginning to wonder exactly what the two girls had in store for them. The group turned inward and the girls began to speak.

"Okay, why don't we all split up? It will probably be easier..."

"And faster." Beth finished for her sister. "Hey, wait a minute. Where is everyone?" It was soon discovered that Kento, Ryo, and Rowen were absent from the group.

"Don't worry about Rowen, Beth. We passed a bookstore on the way in and I can guarantee you that he won't move until we go get him." Sage laughed.

"Yeah, and if I know Kento... he has probably already put in his orders at the food court!" Cye added.

"What about Ryo?" Mia asked.

"He'll turn up, eventually." Sekhmet answered.

"Okay, fine. Beth, you and Sage take my MasterCard for Cale, and Mia and Cye, here's my Discover for Sekhmet." Julie distributed the credit cards as the group split up. "And I'll take care of Dais on my Visa."

"Cool, what do you say we meet back here in a couple of hours?" Cye offered.

"That works. Oh, and if anyone spots those three juvenile delinquents, tell them to meet us back here at the fountain." Mia finished the conversation as they departed to different wings of the mall.

Julia led Dais into a department store, Bacons. Dais had never been to a mall or a department store before in his life. Julie took the time to explain everything to him she could. Finally, they arrived in the men's department. Now, Julie had a fairly good idea of what type of clothes men looked good in, but she had never actually taken one shopping. This was an experiment for them both. They began to remove items from the racks and were accumulating quite a stack. Soon, they were backing towards the dressing rooms.

The store was nearly empty and Dais was glad to be alone with Julie. As they neared the back wall, where the dressing rooms were located, Dais sat the clothing he was carrying down in a vacant chair. Julia was not paying attention and Dais seized her from behind. He pulled her into a niche in the wall and kissed her.

"Dais! What are you doing?" she whispered, chuckling at her own startledness.

"I missed you, Jules" he smiled sweetly down at her. Julie shifted her composure to drape her arms about his neck. "I missed you too, Phantom."

"Listen, we've got two hours alone. Let's go somewhere and spend this time getting reacquainted." he grinned at her. Julie returned the expression and slipped out of his embrace to hold both of his hands in her own.

"Now, Dais we have all trip to catch up." as she spoke she slowly led him out of the niche. "But right now, you are going to try on all these clothes." She handed him the pile and pushed him into the dressing room.

"But Julie..."

"No 'buts' Dais. And I want to see them on you!" After she closed the door on a bewildered warlord she crossed her arms and smiled as she leaned against a post. If he wants to get out of this, he had better come up with a better scheme than that.

 

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Two hours had passed. Rowen had been pried out of the bookstore, bringing with him a large chunk of it in shopping bags, and Kento had been forcibly dragged from the food court. Ryo was found in the pet shop. He had bought White Blaze the biggest chew toy he could find. No one had seen every warlord's outfit; they had only seen the one in their group. All were anxious to see how the others turned out. The girls (Mia, Beth, and Julie) decided to make a grand showing of the 'new' warlords to the group, each of them were hidden behind a post. Needless to say, they were getting slightly frustrated with the whole affair.

"This is ridiculous! Can we come out now?" Sekhmet grumbled.

"Not yet! Just one more thing to do." The guys were sitting on the edge of the fountain and Julie smiled mischievously at her sister, then made a flicking motion with her hand. Over the mall's stereo system, ZZTop's Sharp Dressed Man began to play. Everyone smiled, Nice touch Beth! My sister, you are an original!

"Alright, now one at a time. First Sekhmet!" Mia called. Sekhmet rounded his post in an ash gray, pin stripe Armoni suit. His hair was neatly combed back and he wore a brown, paisley patterned necktie and matching handkerchief. Everyone applauded with satisfaction and approval.

"Wow Sekhmet!" Beth had just paid her first compliment to the man. He smiled awkwardly in return as he sat down on a bench.

"Okay Dais." at the ring of Julie's voice Dais came striding out from his own post. He sported a pair of navy blue dress slacks, tan shirt, and a sports coat. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail and he held his hands in his pockets. Again, the group expressed its pleasure with the new attire as Dais sat down next to Sekhmet, glaring at Julie. His demeanor lightened when she threw him a smile and a wink.

"Alright Cale. Strut your stuff!" Beth called. She was extremely proud of her and Sage's makeover and let the group see it. Cale slid out from behind the post and nearly gave Julie a heart attack. He was dressed in thick black boots, dark blue jeans, black belt with a silver buckle, black shirt with a large collar, black leather jacket with silver studs, and a silver earring in his left ear. The most startling fact was how natural it all looked on him. The group loved this outfit the most and cheered him on. He moved over and joined his fellow makeover victims.

Julie walked over to Beth and Sage and said, "Good job you two. All he needs now is a tattoo and a Harley Davidson!" Beth stood up and playfully shoved her laughing sister.

"Julie, you know you love it!"

"I do, I do! In fact, I think you all turned out quite nicely!"

"Why thank you girls!" the warlords replied. This was turning out to be their best trip ever.