Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XXI Episode VI: Trying New Clothes

Back at the mall…

Skeedaddle had taken the entire group to a back room within the department store where several articles of Far Eastern clothing were held up on hangers. But the ones he had saved for them inparticular…

Were all yukatas in various colors with a pair of twin dragons traveling up and along the robes and more dragons traveling down the arms and ending at the sleeves.

“Ladies and gentlemen, here we have the extremely rare and expensive uh…” Skeedaddle paused and took out his phone to read something from his inventory screen. “Cho…Choten Ryu collection. Yeah that’s what it’s called. Sorry, my Nihonese isn’t exactly perfect.”

Keiji folded his arms and commented on the name, “Hm…’Apex Dragon’ eh? What an interesting name. Sounds kinda…familiar.” A small smile crept on his face, “I like it.” Then he laid eyes on a deep blue yukata whose dragons were silver in color. “...I think I’ll take that one.”

“Oh-ho! I told you you’d be into this, man!” Sandbar remarked on Keiji’s choice with a friendly nudge of his elbow. “This stuff is awesome, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…it is,” he replied with a nod.

Coral was overjoyed, throwing her hands around Skeedaddle with a wide smile on her face. “My dude, you really came through for us! I won’t forget this, ya know that?”

“Hey, hey, hey--not so rough!” Skeedaddle groaned, “I need my uniform to stay in good condish or the boss will throw a fit.”

Meanwhile, Yona had already picked out the color of robes that she liked the best. “Yona like…that one. Brown with gold dragons. It’d make Yona look fierce.” She turned to Sandbar for his approval. “Does Sandbar agree?”

“Heck, you’d look good in anything--but the brown works well with your hair--we could even style it for ya!” Sandbar mused ideas while looking at the yukata.

“Sandbar willing to do Yona’s hair?” the large girl asked inquisitively while idly tapping her looped braids, “I didn’t know Sandbar was stylist.”

That’s when Coral jumped in. “Oh, he’s not. But my big brother does my hair all the time!”

Even Skeedaddle was interested in the conversation now, and added his own input, “Wait seriously? You?”

“Ehhh…just for special occasions,” Sandbar admitted while rubbing the back of his head, “I’m not the best with braiding, but I know how to comb pretty darn well. Helps for when sis needs to look good for a ceremony or something special at school.”

Coral scoffed and put her hands on her hips. “Ah--pfff! Don’t be so modest, Sandbar. You always know how to fix my messy ‘do. It’s why I usually wear this hat,” she pointed to her patched bucket hat and removed it, causing her frizzy two-tone head of pink and cyan hair. “It’s almost as bad as yours, Skeeds.”

“Nah,” Skeedaddle replied with a chuckle as he flicked one of his messy hairs back into place. “Nothing is as bad as this. You know some people call this ‘anime’ hair? Crazy right?”

As they all continued their conversation, Keiji stood back and watched with an idle, vacant smile on his face. “...Yeah, this is worth fighting for. Good people like them deserve to live peacefully. Love to see it.”

About 20 minutes of trying on later…

In the end, the group had made their purchases. To elaborate, Sandbar had picked a red yukata with black dragons, and his little sister Coral had picked a pink yukata with gray dragons. Everyone had their items secured in bags so no one could see what they had purchased as Skeedaddle rang them up.

“Alright--that comes to about 400 dollars,” he said as he pulled out another chocolate stick to idly nibble upon, “Who’s paying?”

“I got this,” Coral put a hand against her chest as she took out a credit card, “Use this a-please and thank-ya.”

Keiji raised a brow and glanced at Sandbar. “Wait a sec--aren’t you the older brother? Should you be the one handling all the important stuff like money?”

As his sister paid, Sandbar simply responded with his usual easygoing smile and a shrug. “Meh. I’m not good with memorizing credit and banking stuff. I let sis handle all that since she’s smarter than me.”

“Kami on a bicycle--” Keiji muttered, “You’re like a damn turtle--” he then noticed the pattern on Sandbar’s shirt that featured the shelled reptiles. “Any more patient and you’ll start growing a shell.”

“That’s why Sandbar is so much fun to be around!” Yona proclaimed, “He never gets angry when Yona needs to take time to understand Canterlot culture and language.” She folded her arms and pouted. “When Yona first got here, nobody bothered to help. It was annoying.”

As soon as she started to speak negatively, Sandbar put his arm around hers, “Hey, hey--c’mon, Yona--don’t start thinking about the bad times. I’m right here for ya.” Then he had an idea, snapping his fingers. “Yo, here’s a thought--why don’t we go get corndogs and lemonade? My treat!”

Yona’s attitude was quickly swayed by the words of the surfer boy. “That sounds great! One question: What is dog of corn?”

Once her purchase went through, Skeedaddle handed Coral her card back. “Here ya go.”

“Thanks--Hey, Skeeds…are you looking for a partner to go to the Festival with?” she asked while idly swaying back and forth with her hands behind her back.

Skeedaddle turned his head left, then right to check his surroundings. “...Kweyh? Say what-now? Is this is a prank? I feel like this is prank.” He looked at her while biting the candy stick. “Are you serious?”

“Of course--!” she replied as she nudged him with her shoulder, “I’m just more surprised nobody’s asked you out yet. You’re smart and responsible--not to mention pretty cute as well-”

“H-hold on! You can’t just barge into my store and ask me that kinda question!” he sputtered with his cheeks having turned rosy. “...In any case, I think I might be free.”

“Sweet--I’ll call you the day before,” Coral started backing out of the store while making fingerguns in his direction. “Don’t let me down, Daddle-”

“Stop--just stop talking--” Skeedaddle sighed into his palm as Coral left.

And as Coral left, she had been still walking backwards until she bumped into someone who was walking into the store she had just left out of--

“Oof! Sorry!”

“Hoy, bantayan mo kung saan ka pupunta--be careful, dammit!” a girl with reddish-orange skin and pinkish-purple hair hissed as she stormed her way in.

“Jeez…what’s her deal…?” Coral wondered, only to have her attention stolen by her older brother.

“Hey, Cici, c’mon! I’m payin’ with my tips from work today!” he shouted.

“O-oh…coming!” Coral turned and immediately ran to catch up with the group.

Comments

[Jmaster49]

11264415
LMAO! XD