Band of Misfits

Hoodies

When Scarlet first saw Kai's hoodie wardrobe of choice, she was appalled. "Gray?" she demanded. "Don't you have any sense of flair?"

"I'm an emperor," he told her, taking off the gray hoodie and setting it on the office couch. "I never lack in flair."

She scowled. "You've been spending too much time around Thorne."

"Says the girl who matches her hoodie to her hair!"

"Don't make me sic Iko on your closet."

"If you were in my position, you wouldn't want to attract more attention to yourself, either." He shook his gray, decidedly drab hoodie at her. "I want to be unnoticeable when I leave the palace. That's why I like it. That's why it's valuable."

"I know a good hoodie when I see one," Scarlet muttered.

"That's odd, considering you've only worn one your entire life."

"And you've worn too much, Your Majestic Wealthiness. You know silks and satins, but you wouldn't know street wear if it dropped to its knees and swore fealty to you!"

Someone snorted. Momentarily distracted, the two of them turned to Cinder, who was sitting at Kai's desk with a broken android on the table. There was nothing amusing about the metallic personality chip in her hands, but she was smirking at it.

At their sudden silence, she glanced up, eyebrows raised. "Well, don't let me stop you," she said, visibly trying to smother her smile. She put the chip down and peered into the android's control panel. "You seem to be having a grand old time. Carry on."

Scarlet and Kai exchanged a glance. Then, keeping their eyes on Cinder (who went on obliviously with her work), they began to whisper.

"I've never seen her wear a hoodie."

"Does she even have one?"

"Not that I know of," Kai mused. "Do you know that shop in the Kim Lee district, the one by the sashimi place?"

"Are you joking? She deserves better than that! I'll take her to the woman who made the fabric for mine. She does special requests."

"I don't trust your French fashion."

"Au contraire, Votre Majesté. Paris has been the fashion capital of the world since the second era."

"You live in Rieux," Kai pointed out.

"So? I've been to Paris. I know my stuff."

He considered. "All right. Just a few conditions: you take a guard. Use one of our personal podships. And please, come back in time for the gala."

"We'd have to leave today."

"Why not? A trip to France shouldn't be much of a problem."

A slow smile spread over Scarlet's face. "Excellent!" she declared. Without a moment's hesitation, she strode to Kai's desk, where Cinder was now fiddling with a bunch of multicoloured wires.

Scarlet put a hand on her shoulder. "We are going on a shopping trip," she announced.

 Cinder looked up, appearing to emerge from a kind of trance. "Hmm?"

Scarlet grinned. She said, very deliberately, "Put on something respectable and let's go to Paris."

That particular combination of words didn't seem to make sense to her. "Paris?" Cinder repeated incredulously. "What are you - "

Scarlet was already dragging her from her chair. Kai watched with an affectionate sort of amusement as Cinder struggled against her grip and protested the sudden change of plans.

"We can go to my farm," Scarlet said soothingly as she pushed Cinder out the door. "We can go see Wolf! What do you say? We haven't seen him in a while. It would do you good to get out of the city smog and get some fresh air." This last was coupled with a glare at Kai, as if New Beijing's considerable industries were all his fault.

"Don't take too many detours," Kai called after them.

Cinder cast him a panicked look over her shoulder - a look that said you traitor, how can you let her do this? - just as the door clicked shut.

"Knowing Scarlet," he muttered, swinging away, "they'll end up taking a tour of Europe."