#i had to color correct this fifty billion times and it still looks too bright. whatever man

[chiricat]

june

[mauserfrau]

International Fanworks Day - Datejime

Datejime

Persona 3 

For Drakonlily & Fam

AN: I had about eleventy billion windows open to write this and I regret nothing.  Still probably not 100% accurate, but I did my best.

Queue -FF7 [Original]: Sephiroth x Tifa -Tales From The Borderlands: Loader Bot & OC -Borderlands/Very Special Crossover feat. the Calypso Twins XD -Press to get in the request queue.  Only rule is don’t be a jerk. Mostly doing Borderlands, but ask and I’ll give it my best.

The kimono Mitsuru rented for them came in a kikou-print van with a revolving rack of obi and three professional kimono stylists.

Aigis knew the women worked for the Kijiro group in some capacity.  They had arrived without business cards and so weren’t expecting to attract new customers.  They would be paid to keep the secret of her undercarriage.

But.

One of them, the very youngest, cooed at her: “Oh! Would you like me to dress you? I have a special certificate for European color palettes.” She went to show this on her phone.

Arisato though clambered across the room, the baggies of makura, and and grabbed Aegis by the shoulder.  “Oh, that’s so cool! But I’m working on my first certification and Aegis said she’d let me practice on her.  Sorry!”

The woman tilted her head to the side, but, she smiled.  “Oh, I didn’t know.  Please take whatever you need and let us know if you need a hand.”

“Thank you very much! I will!” Arisato nodded, smiled herself, then steered Aegis into one of the side rooms, stranding her there for a handful of minutes.

Aegis stared at her feet.  None of this should have made a difference.  She understood Arisato was trying to protect her.  That person hadn’t realized there wasn’t a need.  

Besides, it was wasteful to dress Aegis herself in a kimono.  She couldn’t wear tabi or geta.  The shielding on her neck and audio ports would still show.  It wouldn’t be a correct kimono presentation at all if it was presented on Aegis.

Arisato came rushing back into the room, arms overflowing with flower prints.  She said, softly so she wouldn’t be overheard, “So, ah, not actually working on my certificates, but I’ve watched a lot of videos and I think the spring colors will go nice with your eyes.”

There was a lot of pink.  A lot.  Variations of pink and a mellow other pastels and jots of gold paste dye.  “They will provide excellent contrast with the aspects of my appearance we cannot change.”

“Exactly!” and Arisato beamed, hooking the hangers for the very fine kimono over the rail for their very ordinary window blinds, once she’d closed those.  

Aegis removed her dress, careful not to apply too much force to the seams.  She had lost some clothing when she was newly made and unused to how fragile fabric was compared to humans themselves or to Shadows.  She remembered exactly fifty-three pieces of textile she had destroyed before she became used to them.

She almost mentioned one, watching Arisato flick through all of the materials she had brought, arranging them with the meticulous nature Aegis had only ever seen her use in battle or sometimes in art class when she was planning how to get out of cleaning her brushes more often than absolutely needed.  But-- her confidence now came off every bit as assuring as it did in the Dark Hour.

Aegis did not need to report any past incidents.  She would not rip the very pink kimono.

Arisato began by unwrapping a brand new extra-long juban and tying it onto Aegis.  She said as she did so, “I know you don’t need one, but it won’t look right without it and I need a foundation for a few other parts, so here we go.  Not too tight?”

“I expect these garments to be restrictive.  I have adequate range of motion for a brief outing,” said Aegis, stretching one arm to demonstrate.  The juban made a papery rustle.  

“OK, good! So, moving on… unless there’s something else you’d like?”

“If you have everything you need, please proceed.”

Arisato checked over her supplies, then nodded.  She hadn’t said so, but Aegis suspected the adjustment phase of kimono application was the tricky part.  Arisato fluffed and plucked and straightened the juban, then moved on to opening several more packages.  Humming, she applied a long, fiercely peach datejime around Aegis’s waist, remarking at the end, “Ah! This doesn’t have ties.  Damn.” though this did not prevent her from fashioning a flat knot into it and rolling this towards the upper center of Aegis’s torso plating.  She then stuffed the wrap she had made with two obi pillows and a stiff, oversized maeita.  Over all of this went another datejima, this one much cheaper and Velcro-fastened.

It brought a sense of confidence to Aegis, watching her work, but Arisato seemed to share that with all of her team.  She appreciated being able to recognize it herself, even in such a frivolous context as this.

She remembered too though, watching the fabric flow and dance around her in Arisato’s hands: the Moonlight Bridge,  The bright shadow of death.  The sound of crunching metal.  Her programming screaming at her that she should preserve all three of those humans crackling softly away.  But there was Death.  And there was a girl.  And she remembered recognizing that she had no bandages, no supplies at all, nothing but herself and her guns and a whiff of esoteric nature carved into her heart by her makers and…

“Ta-da!” said Arisato who had now pinned a han eri, houseplant green, over the juban’s collar

She swept over to the window, gathering the pink kimono off of the rail.  “See, the trick to it’s making a really straight line before you put on the good parts.  

Aegis tugged the kimono closed around her.  Despite the flanges on her thighs, she cut a nearly perfect column of a figure.  Perhaps all of this work wouldn’t be for nothing.

Besides, Arisato seemed happy.  She was laughing now.  “No, no! Don’t wrap it that way.  That’s for dead people!” She did not give Aegis a chance to fix this herself, but took the plackets from her, sliding one atop the other and this time pulling the string inside together so that they would stay put.

“I see.  Excuse me,” said Aegis.  And then, then she added: “Which way would Ryouji wear his, do you think?”

Abruptly, Arisato leaned back, hands on her hips now, “What about Ryouji? He’s not coming.  This is about you, and by the way, can you still walk? Ah…”

Aegis took a few steps forward.  The rustling had gone liquidy beneath all the layers of silk and rayon.  She could hear the Velcro creaking too, but she doubted a human would notice.  “Yes,” she concluded.  “I can still walk and Ryouji is still not here.”

Arisato nodded and she smiled.  She opened another half a dozen bags, preparing to tie Aegis’s obi.