The Samurai's Companion

Chapter 2 - Samurai Jack

"Each meeting occurs at the precise moment for which it was meant. Usually, when it will have the greatest impact on our lives."

― Nadia Scrieva,

It was the second day and Evie had resigned to the fact that she was not dreaming. Gem proved it by sharply rapping on her door, waking her up from a dreamless sleep. Evie's head shot up from her pillow, her long golden hair in a giant mess. Before she could answer, the three-eyed waitress entered the room with her hands on her round hips.

"Are you planning to sleep all day?" Gem gave the human girl a nasty scowl.

Evie blinked sleepily and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?" she muttered and looked out the window only to see that it was just as dark and dreary as the night prior. Perhaps it was a little brighter than she remembered, but Evie wasn't sure if it was just her imagination. She could also feel the room vibrating slightly to a beat. The bar must be open already. Or... was it open 24 hours?

"It's time to get to work, lazy ass," Gem stalked over and pulled Evie's covers off.

Evie squeaked and pulled down on her black shirt to cover her undies. She had taken her gray denim jeans off before getting into bed and had hung them over a chair next to the empty writing desk by the window.

Gem clicked her tongue disapprovingly and shook her head. "You'd better throw away all of that demure crap. You will be showing a lot of skin out there, so if you can't handle that, you might as well leave now."

"You...just startled me, is all," Evie's cheeks turned pink as she looked down at her bare legs. The fine hairs on them stood up on end from the rush of cold that attacked when the blanket was pulled away. "I'll be fine."

The waitress made an unconvinced noise in her throat but made no move to respond. Instead, she threw something orange at Evie and the girl struggled to catch it. It was a two piece costume that looked similar to Gem's pink one. "Put that on," Gem commanded in a tone that held no room for objection.

"But it's so... tiny." Evie compared it to her body. It looked like it was made for a doll and not for someone who was human-sized. It couldn't possibly fit.

"It's elastic," Gem said sharply. "Fuzzy is all about equality," she made air quotes with her fingers, "so he made sure that one size fits all. Even if you were the size of this building, you'd have no trouble squeezing in. Now quit stalling! If you're not out in five minutes, I'm dragging you out whether you are dressed or not!" With that, Gem flipped her short pale hair and slammed the door on the way out, but not before tossing a pair of orange heels onto the floor by Evie's bed.

Evie stared at the door until the echo of the slamming door finally ebbed away in her ears. She looked down at the small orange top with doubt and she stretched it back and forth with her fingers. It was super stretchy, and the material felt like it was made out of that 90's Nickelodeon gak stuff that her younger brothers were obsessed with. It smelled like it too. The idea of wearing it made Evie shudder.

Still, Gem scared her even more, so Evie tried putting on the skirt/pants portion first. Like Gem had said, the thin material stretched effortlessly and slid up her legs with ease. The cool plastic feel of the material made Evie squirm a bit, but to her surprise, it quickly adjusted to her body temperature. At last, she braved on the top. Goosebumps rose on her skin at the unnatural sensation of the material on her upper body, but like the skirt, it molded to her body perfectly and Evie found that it wasn't so bad. It actually... was pretty comfortable and easy to move around in.

She moved to check her appearance in the body mirror next to the tiny closet. It looked little more than a gaudy shimmering bathing suit. The planet-like orange beads jingled and glittered lightly around her hips. Evie flicked one with her finger. The beads spun around like a carousel, revolving around her like she was the sun. "I can't believe I'm wearing this..." Evie muttered. The idea of having to serve customers in such attire was embarrassing. 'Pretend that you are at a beach...' she thought to herself.