Phony Pirate Practices

"Cool," said Jennifer, starting to walk towards the back of the shop where she knew the changing rooms were, or at least she was pretty sure. Contrary to popular belief she did not have the layout of every single shopping centre in the universe mapped out, just 99% of them.

Mage followed Jennifer towards the changing rooms. Soul made a move to, too, but glanced over at Harry first to see if he was coming along as well. He should have expected that Harry's sister would join them. He had just been hoping that it would only be Harry, Mage and Soul.

...He would have to hold off on telling Harry the truth, then.

Jennifer pointed out the cubicles that made up the changing room. They were fairly big, especially for a changing room in a store, and brilliantly lit with mirrors on all the walls except the door.

"So you can go in there and change, take a look at yourself in the mirror, then come out to give us a look and decide if you want to buy it," said Jennifer.

"But only if you're comfortable," added Harry as he joined them.

Mage hadn't ever seen a room like this one before. It was a room filled with mini rooms and covered by mirrors. He wondered if all changing rooms were like this one, or if this was something specific to this world. Part of him wanted to ask, but the other part of him wanted to try on clothes more.

"Okay," Mage said.

"I'll wait out here," Soul offered. He had to be smiling underneath his helmet from the tone in his voice right now.

Mage gave a little nod, then stepped inside the closest mini-room. He carefully shut the door behind him.

Harry stood outside the changing room, feeling ever so slightly awkward. It had been quite a while since he'd found himself in this particular situation, and much, much longer since he'd been in this predicament willingly.

He glanced at Soul. He seemed to be doing okay for the moment. Shania was glancing around the shop somewhere else and Jennifer was still intently staring at the door.

Soul awkwardly shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Just by chance, he glanced over at Harry the moment Harry glanced over at him. Harry seemed just as uncomfortable as Soul felt right now.

"Do you...go to stores like this often?" Soul finally asked, trying to dispel his own discomfort.

Harry shook his head at Soul's question. "Not willingly, no, even by force it has genuinely been a while. Its been a busy couple of centuries lately."

Soul needed to stop forgetting that Harry was far older than he looked. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be happening any time in the near future—Soul just stared at Harry as his second sentence registered.

"Oh," Soul managed to get out. He glanced back in the direction of the changing room. "We don't really have stores like this one. There's shops for other things, but..."

He paused.

"...It's hard for us to go to them most of the time," Soul admitted. "Except for when Mage lost his horns, it's impossible to hide that he's a demon."

Harry nodded solemnly. "Sorry to hear that. You know the more I hear about your world, the more I am tempted to get the team together, stage an invasion and knock some sense into these people."

Soul gave a small smile underneath his helmet.

"I appreciate the thought," he said. The smile faltered. "You would need to knock sense into a lot of people. The humans are just partially responsible. The angels are the ones that enforce how they view demons, even when..."

He took a deep breath he didn't need. It wasn't his story, but he always felt so guilty when he thought about what Zogin and Mage had both gone through thanks to the angels—even though it wasn't like he could have stopped it.

"...the angels have harmed so many people."

Harry nodded in understanding. He'd seen many a world tear itself apart that way and it was never pretty. And that included the ones that had happy endings.

"Those things take time," said Harry, after a second of thought," but usually the universe restores the balance. They will one day have to pay for what they have done, they can't get away with that forever."

Soul gave a small nod.

"I hope we're all around to see it," he softly said. He knew he would be. Since Mage and him severed the connection between Zogin and Soul, there was nothing to stop him from living long after she died. Demons had the same life spans as humans, too. Mage and Zogin would be long gone, and he would just be...here. Existing alone.

Harry nodded.

"Yes. I know I'll be around, that's unavoidable, but I hope you all live to see things settle down. Maybe I can visit you guys too at some point. That might be a good vacation for the team."

Soul smiled.

"I'd like that," he said. Zogin would be fascinated by everything on a world like this one, even if she would initially act like she wasn't. And Mage would be happy to see Harry again, too.

Harry smiled back.

"Maybe our team will be a little more interesting than just me and those two clowns," said Harry.