Interlude 1.b – Parian's Predicaments

Parian made the last touches to the final piece of clothing she was working on for the day, folded it, and placed it into the pile of her finished works.

Walking over to her changing room, she took off her costume, and suddenly she was Parian no more, only Sabah.

The girl in the mirror had dark skin, full lips and large dark eyes. She was also painfully short. 'I have to stop hoping to suddenly grow taller.'

[https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/3ee48d5d-7331-45e3-a20e-3ba5e96c614c/dav2gio-600076a1-1c4e-4153-8473-efe1e79db451.jpg/v1/fit/w_800,h_1182,q_70,strp/parian__undersiders__by_linaleez_dav2gio-414w-2x.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTE4MiIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzNlZTQ4ZDVkLTczMzEtNDVlMy1hMjBlLTNiYTVlOTZjNjE0Y1wvZGF2Mmdpby02MDAwNzZhMS0xYzRlLTQxNTMtODQ3My1lZmUxZTc5ZGI0NTEuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTgwMCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19._EPJxDa4cSBvJ1SKKLVToztrDiM1fitYdQyA6N7wiLQ]

Shaking her head, she quickly began wearing her civilian clothing.

Perhaps, it was silly, but she'd placed an importance on masks. Despite hiring this small room where she practised her powers under her real name, even in the privacy of the room she only ever used her power when the mask was on.

She'd resolved to discard her mask eventually; she would need to if she wanted to make a career in fashion design while still making use of her powers. However, if she wanted to do it on her own terms, she would need to be careful, hence the discipline.

But, she still hadn't finished her studies. And if she was being honest with herself, she didn't feel very confident about crossing the step and actually exposing her identity to the world.

She didn't want to stand out as another 'outed' cape, she wanted to be known for her work.

But her power did not really help her design anything. That was why she was confident in her ability to stay unrestricted by the NEPEA-5 bill, it was also the constant source of slowly growing anxiety that had been clawing at her inside recently.

The confidence with which she'd started her designer dream had run out of fuel.

It wasn't that she was bad, she was actually pretty good at it, but she wasn't supernaturally good. The fact that made it possible for a Parahuman like her to pursue her dream was the same one that made her feel inadequate. 'Well, at least I'm doing better here than my engineering course.'

Walking out of the cheap apartment complex, Sabah made her way into the cold of the night, releasing foggy breaths and rubbing her gloved hands together all the way.

Sometimes she still thought back to her previous course. If she'd done things a little differently, she could have gone through with it. If she'd made herself clear from the start then maybe things wouldn't have devolved the way they did.

If she'd just told that stupid boy that she was only interested in women, then maybe he'd have given up for good and stopped pestering her for a relationship beyond 'project partners'.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Instead, she just ended up shaming herself and leaving, defeated.

Then again, back then she didn't have powers to protect herself. Being both of darker skin and gay? The Empire sympathizers would have had a field day. Less said about what would have happened if she caught actual Empire attention.

Sabah looked at the city streets that had been painted white by the snow. 'A white dress that matches this snow should be nice for the next project.'

Even after all this time, she hadn't gotten used to this weather. Perhaps it was her body that had gotten used to the climate of Basra and refused to adapt to her circumstances.

As she walked along the streets she made sure to take the longer route that passed through the suburbs.

She knew she shouldn't be walking the streets at night, powers or not, even if it was in a residential neighbourhood where the only criminals would be the kind looking to break into houses to steal or the crazier home invaders. Both rare breeds.

However, this nighttime walk wasn't something she'd planned. She was normally quite punctual.

The only reason she'd been delayed was because she'd stopped to listen to a friend from the Geology department and lost track of time.

Something about odd seismic readings coming from all around the globe, with no visual effects. Apparently, it had all the scientists in a tizzy.

Liz's friend from the Sociology department on the other hand seemed convinced it was Behemoth finally deciding to destroy the planet from its core.

Honestly, she'd just been humouring Liz by being there, while thinking of her designs. It probably helped that Liz was quite a pretty girl.

It also helped that Liz had no interest in her. Sabah wasn't quite ready for a relationship with anyone after the fiasco with that boy. She still partook in the eye candy readily though.

Just as her thoughts began wandering, she heard some shouting from an alley she'd just passed. Tensing, Sabah quickly stuck herself to the wall and began inching her way to the mouth of the alley and peeked into it.

"You pieces of utter filth; you really have no respect for the Rules in a city run by Dark Elves. The least you could do was try stealing something, instead, you attacked one of—OK this isn't the city I live in is it? Is that the Sky?! Is this the fucking surface?!"

The first thing she noticed was that there was a Case 53 in an alley with 2 Empire grunts lying on the ground with unknown conditions.

OK…that was a lie.

The first thing she noticed was the sexy milky-skinned elf in an outfit that could only be described as 'slinky', 'tight-fitting' and 'scanty' all at once. 'But it was hot and kind of worked.'

[https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/015/922/224/large/marco-taffelli-front2-logo.jpg?1550179105]

She only noticed the grunts after she had managed to drag her eyes away from the leather-clad Case 53.

The woman had finally stopped kicking the men at her feet and started reading a piece of paper she took out from a bag she carried.

"Dark God's dammit, this isn't the contract I signed! What in the Underworld is a Celestial Forge and why do I need to pay a percentage of my profits to some random turd?! My brother gets a personal sale from the new Keeper, and I get randomly teleported to some surface hell!"

Stomping her feet, the woman paced around the alley. "This is what I get for getting too desperate to find a Keeper to hire me. OK, calm down Yenna, maybe this asshole who gets to make money off my existence is a Keeper? Just gotta stay positi—I HAVE TO GET THE SHOP ON MY OWN TOO?! WHAT THE FUCK?!"

At some point, Sabah had simply started to stare at the Case 5—No, at Yenna. Completely forgetting that she was hiding, opting instead to eye the jiggling 'designs' barely being restricted by her clothing.

"You! Human! I'm hiring you to be my guide! Be grateful to the Dark Gods that you get to bask in my presence as you work. As a bonus, I'll give you some Gold so that you can buy yourself some decent clothes before the Dark Gods smite you for your impudence of not following the dress code." Yenna pointed at the Middle-Eastern girl and declared her intent as disdainfully as she could.

Stunned at her discovery, Sabah completely forgot to prepare her needles and other weapons to defend herself, which she promised herself she would remember to keep at the ready whenever she was in the vicinity of an unknown cape.

"G-guide? Why do you need me for that? Just use Spyder-Finder or something!"

"Fool girl! Do you see anyone else in this alley? I'm not going to go search for this Finder when I know nothing of this place!"

Right, she was a Case 53. She wouldn't know anything about this place. 'Or the Internet apparently.'

Sabah had always sympathized with Case 53s. Her own relocation from Basra being similar and drawing parallels between their situations. Only with theirs being much worse.

"W-well, I could help you look for a place to stay for the night and get you set up for a tour tomorrow?"

'I needed experience interacting with other capes anyways, helping a Case 53 in the process would be a bonus.' She had absolutely no ulterior motives at all. Nuh-uh.

"Well? What are we waiting for, lead the way guide girl!"

"My name's Sabah."

"A pretty name. I'm Yenna as I'm sure you overheard."

'Aren't you supposed to compliment me after saying that? Or is it just my name that you found appealing?!'

It was only after they'd walked for a few seconds that Sabah properly recalled Yenna's words and turned to her with wide eyes.

"Wait! Did you say you'd pay with Gold?!

"Yes. Could it be that humans have faulty hearing here?"

"Also, what the hell do you mean I should get decent clothes?! I designed these myself!"

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