X-ing Over 1 - Travelers (Patreon)

Aran walked cautiously down the sidewalk of the small, nameless city. It was not actually nameless, of course, it was just that the first sign she saw was so average that it may as well have just been 'Placeholder.' It was something excessively mundane; Plainsville. Like they were trying to tell everyone that there was nothing going on to a suspicious extent. It had the appearance of a rural center. Not a big city, but not a simple stopover. Mainstreet, the road she was on, was alive with commerce. Cars parked on the side of the road, people walking in and out of shops. There were offices but the highest one in sight was at most four floors and a flat roof. It was the office of the Inquirer, a local paper. There was a large sign beneath a clock that said as much.

Despite the fact that she stood out in her gaudy orange power-armor, nobody in the odd town paid her as much mind as they should have. She received some acknowledgment and a few whistles from men as she passed them, but other than that she was treated like any other woman pushing a stroller or walking down the street with a shopping bag.
“This is surreal...” She turned to gaze deeply at her surroundings and the people within view as if all of it was an illusion.

“You don't say?” Came a voice with an earth accent from off to her side. Aran turned to acknowledge a small woman with dark hair. She did not notice her before because in her jeans and basic T-shirt she almost fit in. The woman looked to be younger than the bounty hunter and on second inspection her 'normal' clothes became less an less common as Aran realized the woman was equipped for a safari with a bow on her back, a quiver of arrows and plenty of survival equipment scattered across her person, including a climbing harness. Less abnormal than the power-armor she wore, but neither of them really fit in with the landscape. It was all poor camouflage  
“I have been to places lost to time that are less strange than this.” The woman added. Aran was finally able to narrow the earth accent down to being one of an upper-class, well-educated woman.
“Did you also just 'arrive' here?” The posh woman asked.

Aran nodded. “I was hunting something...” She thought for a minute and pointed up.
“Up there, maybe?”

The other woman looked up curiously. “Space? Well... You are dressed for it. I don't doubt you. I was on a plane over the Pacific.” She lowered her sunglasses and offered her hand.
“Lara, by the way.”

“Aran.” She carefully took Lara's hand in hers.
“The Pacific? This doesn't look like the earth I've seen images of.”

“I haven't been to the midwest, but this place fits the description. Still, it's certainly not normal for me to visit a small city in...” She looked around and flagged down the nearest woman. She was heavily pregnant, holding her belly. The blonde girl looked exhausted and completely out of it.
“Sorry, what state are we in?”

The woman stopped for a moment, looked at Lara, then shrugged. “I... Don't know stuff like that.”

“You don't know where you live?” Aran interjected curiously.

“My husband handles the important things, I just handle the shopping and the...” She stops and smiles, looking down at her belly.
“Anyway, you ladies have a nice day.” With that she continued walking.

“Did you see that?” Lara commented.

“Hmm. She looked tired.” The hunter observed.

“Or drugged, or something else. She did not care at all that I look like I am preparing for an expedition and you look like an astronaut collided with a pumpkin patch.” Aran looked down at her armor and shrugged. Since it seemed relatively safe she decided to save power by recalling it.
“Oh. My. God.” Lara lifted a brow as the awkward spacewoman evolved instantly into a statuesque blonde model in a skin-tight blue suit. She looked like a girl that belonged on the cover of a Nordic fashion magazine.

“What?” Aran leaned back as Lara offered her a weird look.

“Nothing. You are very, very attractive for an astronaut.”

“I'm not really an astronaut, I'm a bounty hunter.” Aran reached down and checked her equipment, including her boots and her pistol. Both seemed functional.

“Of course you are.” Lara slid her trendy sunglasses back up her nose. She looked, in reality, like a pulp character with her futuristic high-heels and her bright blue suite. Even her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail provided the right aesthetic for a 60's comic.

“Do you think we should try to fit in with the locals?” Aran offered.

“I don't see why, considering the looks we have been given so far.” The only time Lara saw heads turn did not give her the impression that it was someone staring at her like she did not belong. Instead, it just felt like another day as an attractive woman. Oddly normal for such an unusual circumstance.
“I don't see why not, either. But with what money?” Lara stared at Aran pointedly. If the girl had pockets to turn out lara could have expected something from the girl, but she looked dry.
“I have a few pounds on me.” Lara finally relented.
“Odds that they take it? Any bets?”

Aran's eyes widened. “You pay in weight where you're from? I use money, but it's all electronic.”

Lara had no idea what to say to that. The two girls walked until they found a little hole in the wall. A clothing shop that catered to women. There were mannequins modeling cute, short dresses in the window. Past the threshold a very happy woman in an almost belt-thin skirt greeted them with a smile.

“Ladies.” She inclined her head politely.

“Do you take British Pounds?” Lara asked immediately. The woman was not fazed, but she also did not respond the way Lara expected. The woman searched for an answer to what Lara could be talking about. Finally she just shrugged.

“I'm not sure, dear. We get a lot of 'travelers' that all had their own money. Here we trade in Cash.” She said in a pleasant, slightly demeaning tone. The worker spoke like she was talking to a pair of children. Very kind and patient, but without an ounce of real respect.

“Cash? Dollars? United Stat-”

“Do you take Suguru?” Aran asked, butting in loudly over the conversation.

The woman looked up politely. Aran with her height, in addition to her heels, easily towered over her. “We trade in Cash. Just Cash.” She explained.

Lara was becoming impatient. “Can I see one of your bills, then? What cash? What kind of cash!?”

“Patience, honey. If you're looking for work you're going to have to talk to a man. Now, were you girls looking to slip into something nice?” She asked sweetly, tilting her head to one side like a curious animal.
“I don't know 'honey.' We do not have any 'Cash' so how should we pay you?” Lara's tone was dripping with sarcasm but the woman ignored it. She chuckled as though sarcasm was a novelty and the two women in front of her were the ones lost in the conversation.

“Oh, honey. A girl doesn't need to pay to get the things she needs, here. Like I said; we get a lot of 'travelers.' We'll take care of you.” The woman promised.

For Samus it was not odd to run into a  place that had such robust programs to help the poor. For Lara is was incredibly odd. Especially in a place that felt like it was smack dab in the middle of the American Midwest.

“What does the town pay for?” Samus asked before Lara had a chance to.

“Oh, things a girl needs to live. Food, drugs, water, clothes, makeup, self-care, toys.” The worker listed off proudly, eventually using a few fingers on each hand to count as she held them up.

“We can pick out what we like?” lara spoke skeptically.
“Then we can just take it?”

“Try it on first, silly.” The woman laughed and tapped Lara's arm like they were familiar. She leaned back to avoid being too friendly with the worker. Without saying anything else Lara walked the shop and picked out a few items that she felt like she could use. Tight jeans, some sensible tops. For good measure she picked out one of  the dresses, but could only find skimpy little things that hugged her body. It was odd because the slow little city did not seem like a club town but a lot of items were geared towards making a girl look slutty. Not what she would expect from a tiny little city in the Midwest. Aran and Lara both brought their items up at the same time.
“You girls find everything you need?”

“I think so? You tell me.” Aran shrugged. Lara looked over to see that she had picked out anything she could find that fit her with very little sense, but quite a bit of style. She had skirts and shirts of differing colors with various other items in between. Quizzically Lara spotted some sexy underwear, stockings, and a few pairs of shoes in the mix. The bounty hunter met Lara's gaze and conceded by saying.
“I asked for help.”

The woman bagged Samus's clothes, then moved on to Lara's selection. She bagged the dress and set aside all the other items. Lara stared the woman down.
“Is there an issue?”

“Yes, honey. You're going to need to pay Cash for these if you want them.” She offered a very practiced frown to add.
“These just aren't that necessary for you to get by.”

Lara eyed the bag with the skimpy little black dress, then looked back up at the woman. “But a dress is?”

“It's a good choice. I'd grab a pair of heels or two, though. Maybe some cute lingerie to make your hubbie happy. Girl's got to look her best, right?” She smiled brightly at Aran who was completely indifferent to the conversation. She was thankful to be ready to leave.

Lara was becoming frustrated at the irrationality of it. She stomped over to a rack. “So these expensive heels?” The woman nodded.
“Oh, a designer bag!” The woman seemed surprised and her look complimented Lara on her choice.
“Those expensive items are free and 'necessary' but these...” She grabbed a pair of comfortable looking track pants from a bin.

The worker inhaled through her teeth and looked like she was witnessing a crime scene as she shook her head. “Oh honey, those are no good unless you got Cash...” She warned.

“How do I get 'Cash.'” Lara demanded.

“Like I said. You'll have to talk to a man for something like that. My boss is in if you'd like to speak with him.”

“Sure. Let's speak with him, then.”

“I'm going to go try and figure out what's going on. Good luck Lara.” Aran said, hesitant to get between Lara and whoever was going to come out to speak with her. The hunter had what she needed to fit in so she was set. Lara waved the girl off and steeled her resolve to speak with the manager.

* *

After waiting a few awkward minutes a medium-sized, balding gentleman with a gut emerged from the back and smiled as soon as he was able to get a look at her.
“Well well, what a pretty traveler!” He got far too close before Lara had to raise a hand to stop him. Even then he slipped a few more inches into her space than she was comfortable with.

“What is a traveler?”

“Sorry, you must be fresh. It's a woman from outside that's come to visit us.”

“I didn't come here because I wanted to. How can I leave?”

He looked up in thought, as though it was a difficult question. “Leave? Well, I suppose there's a ticket out. Only way to get a hold of one of those is with Cash, though.”

“Do you take British Pounds?”

He laughed heartily. “No... No, it doesn't work like that. You're money's no good here.”

“But I can get most of this stuff for free?” She tried to grill him but he was not shaken at all by her tone or her demeanor.

“Just the essentials. We're pretty 'liberal' here. We give you what you need to live. For anything extra there's Cash. You get it just like you do anywhere else. You earn it through hard work.”

“You earn Cash?” Lara questioned the woman.

“I sure do!” She answered cheerily.
“I got a lot saved up, too.”

“Enough for a ticket out?”

“Oh, maybe. I'm not actually too sure.” She looked up and touched a finger to her chin quizzically.
“When I'm thinking I want something I'll usually ask him first. That doesn't sound like something I would want. Hmm.” She made a little sound like a mouse, then somehow offered an even smaller shrug.

“According to him...” Lara's eye twitched. She turned back to the manager.
“Can I make Cash? Can I keep it in my own accounts and decide how I want to spend it?”

He moved closer and spoke patronizingly. “Of course, sweetie. You aren't married yet, are you?”

“I'm n-” Before she could finish answering a wave of unbelievable dread washed over her. It paled in comparison to any other entities or threats she had faced before. The worst thing about it was that the feeling seemed to be originating from within. It was everything that she did not usually suffer from. Envy, fear of missing out, fear of being alone, fear of wasting her life. All of it was amplified ten fold. Her cheeks flushed. She could not even finish what she was about to say out of embarrassment, even if a moment ago she felt it the most normal, reasonable thing in the world to not marry. Not just that, she did not want to at all.

“Not...”

Lara was so out of it that the hand the man slyly placed on her ass felt briefly like a lifeline and his words sounded like smooth reassurance.
“It's okay. You're pretty. You got a nice body. You fit in well here.”

“You could fit in so much better, though.” The worker added.

Lara began to nod, but it was a subtle squeeze to her rear that snapped her out of her daze. She pushed the man off of her roughly, causing him to stumble back and bump into a rack. He raised his hands apologetically.
“What the hell are you doing!?” She demanded with an appropriate tone to what she felt he had done.

“I was just trying to reassure you.” He offered, as though it was the most normal thing in the world. He spoke in a tone that gave her the impression that he thought she was crazy.

“That is ridiculous! You do not put your hands on someone like that. It's... It's downright illegal.” She glared at him and passed a glance at the worker who seemed shocked at the accusation.

“I think he was just trying to be reassuring.” She repeated. As Lara blinked, she noticed the woman moving strangely. Her voice escaped with an odd, radio-like quality.
“He didn't mean anything by it, honey.” As she moved closer Lara felt like she saw the expression fade in and out between the vapid smile she was wearing and a completely blank, mannequin-like visage. In the moment she could swear she saw doll-joints and was looking at one of the objects in the window that was demoing clothes.

“Is something wrong?” Another, different woman asked, approaching Lara from behind. Lara was beginning to hold her head and narrow her eyes. The new woman, no, there were two, seemed to be wearing the demo clothing she saw the mannequin's modeling, but it would not have been odd to see a woman wearing the stores clothes within the store, so she doubted herself just enough to stop seeing the joints and the blank faces that she thought she saw. The more she blinked the more that illusion washed from her mind.

“Sal was just reassuring her.” The worker explained to the two new women.

“Oh.” One of them nodded with immediate understanding.

“He touched my rear...” Lara asserted in a low, deliberately intense tone to accentuate the gravity of it to the women.

The two just looked at each other and smiled, then looked to Lara sympathetically. “Oh, honey... He doesn't mean anything by it.” She spoke like a soundbite with a radio-like buzzing behind it.

“That's just something he does.” The other one said, acknowledging it, but downplaying it to an even greater extent.

The original worker chimed in again like a barbie doll that had her string pulled. “Sal was just trying to be-”

“Reassuring! I get it!” Lara breathed deeply. She felt like she was going insane.

“Do you get it, honey?” Worker One's tone shifted. Her stock features shifted to a mask of disdain.

“It's... Kind of shitty to accuse a guy of something bad when he didn't mean anything by it.” The second added.

“Why are you shaming him? It's just something men do.” The last woman derided.

Somehow, even if Lara knew she was correct. Despite her own thoughts not once turning against her on the fact that he was not wrong, a pit in her stomach formed as their words began to ring in her ears. Though they were speaking and their mouths were moving in complete sentences, all she could hear was the crackle and buzz of a radio; loud and right next to her ear. Her whole body was vibrating. She felt like she was going to be sick with shame, or perhaps it was just the vibrations that induced that feeling. Regardless, Lara clenched her fists tightly, swallowed her pride and felt it all stop the moment she spoke.
“Sal... Was it? I'm sorry. It was my- my mistake.” She swallowed physically the pit in her neck. Lara felt an odd sense of real shame, not the phony sensation induced by some strange buzzing. She had looked at the man that molested her and apologized. The confident woman suddenly felt naked as Sal approached her and rested a hand on her rear. Things felt awkward and tense. The women were still staring at her, surrounding her with their painted on smiles.

“Hey, sweetie, it's good. So long as you can admit when you're wrong. It takes a strong girl to do that.” He said, giving her ass a squeeze. It triggered in her everything she felt before, only at that point she was unsure of herself. They were staring at her, not him.

She was lured into a conversational tone despite her true feelings. Her disgust with both him and herself.
“Yes. I am...” She gulped.
“Sorry. Sorry I accused you...” She trailed off and watched as the women began receding into the forest of clothing racks.
“Of something you...” Lara finished and the other two were no where to be seen. The clerk, who seemed to be right in her face had disappeared and reappeared behind her desk when she was not looking. She was folding clothes while humming.

“Didn't do, Sal.” As she said that she stared pointedly down at his hand on her butt. He squeezed it, as thought he was taunting her. She knew he had done it. He knew he had done it, regardless of how he thought about it. They were both experiencing the same reality on the inside, but it was his reality on the outside that she had become trapped in and she did not get a say in that realm.

“Oh, I'll let you make it up for me by going out on a date with me tonight” He said accommodatingly.

“Sure...” Lara said between clenched teeth. The man had more agency than anyone she had met so far other than the spacewoman, so he was probably a good resource. Still, it felt awful to agree under his terms.

“Don't worry, sweatheart. If you're making that face because you don't got Cash, I never let a girl pay for her own meal.”

“How chivalrous.” She uttered sardonically.