"Welcome to the greatest city in all of Loading!" a man said to Phina.
"Loading?" Phina looked at the man as Fardo and the others were chatting with the guards. They found it a good chance to make connections when they were with an 'enforcer'.
"The Loading World, my Lady!" the man emphasized. "You're looking at the finest merchant in all of Exar!"
"Fuck off, Ringo. She's with me." Fardo said as he walked towards them. Something about walking with a silent woman in an enforcer's uniform made others walk out of the way and Fardo liked that.
"Is everyone new to this city with you?! You're ruining my business, asshole!!" Ringo shouted.
"Your crap's just not worth anything more than 20 copper, that's chump change my guy." Fardo smirked as he gestured to Phina to follow him.
Ringo was taken aback. Fardo's never been this blunt about it. His brutality was so focused that...it kinda hurt. Ringo looked to the side as he walked away.
Fardo had a slight smile on his face as he called out. "Ringo. Ringo! Come on, man. You know I was just messing with you!"
"Too far, Bro." Jack said as he bumped his shoulder into Fardo. "You're so irresponsible with emotions that I'm surprised you can even have a loving wife."
"Wow, where did that come from?" Phina smiled as Jack's attitude took a complete turn.
"Hey Jack-ass, calm down. You talk like that to your boss?" Fardo got a little embarrassed. No matter how you spun it, Seraphina was a powerful woman. Being mocked like that in front of her just felt uncomfortable.
"Oh, where is my boss? I am currently unemployed, you see." Jack smirked. He loved mocking his brother after jobs. It was so freeing to finally listen to 'That is an order, Jack.' and not have to listen.
"Keep talking like that and you'll STAY unemployed!" Fardo looked threateningly.
"Okay, okay, don't be a dick about it." Jack looked to the side.
"Alright, I'll go to my clinic. Let's go, Kara." Marrow stretched as he reached them. The guards needed to check his things very thoroughly. It was, after all, a bunch of drugs, knives, and wraps.
"Actually...I was thinking of showing Phina around." Kara smiled. "Maybe something will jog her memories!"
Marrow's eyes widened a little as his eyebrows rose. He then laughed, "I see! I see! Very well then, go ahead. If you need any spending money, then come to me."
"Thanks, Daddy!" Kara smiled as she took Phina by the hand. "Let's go, Phina!"
"She found a friend...it's been a while." Fardo smiled to his father-in-law as the two girls ran off with Jack to look around. It was Fardo's policy, never leave without someone watching her, though in this situation, her companion would be better protection than Jack. Her memory might not be there, but her instinct sure is. That axe kick still hurt him, it had even bruised his back.
"I wanted to show you all the girly places, but Jack is dragging us down." Kara sighed. This was the reason she hated him so much. She never had freedom when he was around. He was given authority over her by her own father and husband. Of course, she could just run around, but a mad Fardo was a scary Fardo. A sad Fardo was even worse for her heart than a mad Fardo.
"I think this isn't about her memory, Sis." Jack said as he looked to the side. "Wouldn't it make sense to go to training areas? There's no way in hell an enforcer would have enough time for a manicure or doing her hair. She doesn't even look past 28, her work ethic must've been insane! If I was an enforcer by her age, I probably wouldn't have time to shit, let alone shopping."
"Why are you so insufferable?!" Kara huffed. She then grabbed Phina's hand and started walking away. Jack rolled his eyes and followed after them.
"What do you want to do?" Kara somewhat calmed down and asked Phina.
Phina looked at her uniform, a few cuts away from leaving her flat-out naked. "Clothes?"
Kara's eyes shone slightly. She tried multiple times to befriend Violet since they had similar power, but Violet didn't get her abilities simply by throwing away her time on simple appearances. Violet was the type of person to despise the young scions of nobility for using their social power to get physical power, rather than work on it like her. She saw it as cheating. Kara understood her, but she wanted Violet to relax with her sometime. Violet refused on the grounds that not training for a day would put her behind those scions. While Violet was a constant member of Fardo's party, she was never a permanent one. It was unknown whether the next job would be her last with them.
"Of course!! Then we can go style your hair, go to a nobility party to meet people, then we can go back to train!!" Kara seemed to already plan their whole day in her head.
"Uhm...okay?" Phina looked at Jack with pleading eyes, but he just smiled. Finally, someone was going to share his pains.
"Let's go!!" Kara pulled Phina.
Kara bought Phina over 18 different outfits and 23 different shoes on the grounds that Phina can just pay her back whenever she had the money.
"Okay, pause. Where am I even going to put these things?! I don't have a house!!" Phina was finally fed up after the 18th outfit.
"Oh, you can just put it in our guest room until you can get your own house!" Kara smiled. Her smile was so innocent and happy that Phina just let her do whatever she wanted.
They then went to style Phina's hair. It was a deep red and it went down to her waist. The barber asked her, "How do you want your hair, baby?"
"Short, I guess?" Phina was unsure. The barber looked at Kara, who shrugged with a smile.
Jack interrupted and said, "Do you want a good cut for occasions or battle?"
"Both?" Phina wanted to be ready for battle for some reason, but she felt like looking good was important, or at least Kara made it look like so.
"I guess a short hair with bangs would look good on her, don't you think so?" Jack asked the two women.
Kara smiled at Jack for once, "I didn't know you cared."
"If she feels indebted to me, then I can get an Intermediate-rank fighter to owe me." Jack whispered.
Just like that, Kara's smile disappeared just as fast as it came. 'What did I expect?'
"It's sort of like this, but a bit longer." Jack said as he untied his own hair. It reached halfway to his shoulders.
"That looks good." Phina smiled, she then turned to the barber. "Please do that."
"Sure thing." the barber smiled.
The barber kept making small talk with Phina. She told her about where she came from, recommended a few local places and a few abroad. She could tell that Phina didn't want to talk about her home, so she skillfully avoided the subject of home while still including culture. Her conversational skills were great.
"What do you think?" the barber smiled, lifting a mirror for Phina.
"Wow...I love it! I never noticed that my eyes were red!" Phina smiled. "Thank you, uhm...I never caught your name."
"Emma." the barber smiled. "What about you?"
"I'm Seraphina. Please call me Phina!" Phina felt very comfortable with Emma. They held a near 20 minutes conversation without her feeling uncomfortable. "Actually, are you free? I'd love if you joined us!"
"Phina, we have to go to a party, remember?" Kara looked at her.
"I'm flattered, but I have work. Please, do come back later!" Emma smiled. Her white smile contrasted her brown skin tone. Her poufy black hair was a little on the short side. The white cardigan she wore gave her a bit of age.
"Okay, see you then! I'll definitely come back!" Phina smiled.
"Took a liking to her?" Jack smiled at Phina. He never saw it much, but he found Phina's smile very beautiful. Not really attractive, more pleasing to the eyes.
"Yes." Phina walked with a weird happiness in her walk. Her chat with Emma made her forget about her problems.