Era1 Universe: The Global Appetizer Course

Your character finds a vintage polyester shirt, what's its story?

Miranda hefted another box into the back of her van. "Thanks for the help Snowflake. I didn't realize there'd be so many boxes to take."

Snowflake set a box beside the vehicle and peered inside. "No problem. What is all of this stuff anyway?"

The woman looked in the box. "Hmm, old clothes it looks like." She reached in and rummaged through the box.

"It's cool you humans swap clothes."

Miranda looked up at Snowflake with a mildly perplexed look and chuckled. "You mean donating them to charity? What, you gems don't do that?"

"Nah, we tend to just wear out the clothes we have." Snowflake got down on her knees and picked out an ugly green jacket. It was as vibrant as a tennis ball.

Miranda leaned against the back of the car and watched her friend, a literal alien in ways, curiously rummaging through the box of old clothes like it was a treasure chest. "You just wear them out?"

"Yeah. I mean, Onyx really goes through the leggings and her skirts are always getting torn. From fighting, y'know? But no one really gets rid of the old clothes." Snowflake's hands felt something strange towards the bottom and she grasped the article of clothing and brought it up.

"I guess that makes sense. Another fascinating difference between our two worlds, right?"

Snowflake nodded, her white hair bouncing as she did so. She held up what turned out to be a shirt. "What on Ophelion is this?"

"Earth," Miranda corrected with a chuckle.

Snowflake looked up at her then laughed. "Right. What on Earth is this? It feels weird."

Miranda looked the shirt up and down. "I haven't seen that thing in forever."

"What is it though?"

"A shirt." Miranda knew what Snowflake meant and had her right where she wanted her. In a joking tone she continued, "you wear it on your body to cover-" She was silenced by a pair of old jeans Snowflake chucked at her and struck her face. She howled with laughter. "You had that coming! And people say you're the clever wordsmith."

"Literally only you have called me that," Snowflake laughed. She slipped the button down abomination of a shirt on. To her surprise, it fit pretty well. It was various shades of tie dye. Ugly in all the right ways. "What is it though?"

"I think I wore that as part of a costume. Vikki and I dressed up all retro-like for a costume party back in med school."

Snowflake looked up and gave her a strange look. "I accidentally was there with you and I don't ever remember and... dress up."

"This was before I met you." Miranda began rummaging through another box in the back of the van. "My very first year there. Vikki and I were invited to a Halloween party and we couldn't figure out what to wear. We finally agreed to go to a local thrift shop and see what we could find. They really didn't have much by way of any 'fun' costumes. But! They had some old shirts and we decided vintage was just cool enough to wear to the party."

"How'd that go?"

"About as well as you'd think. But we had fun and I think that's all that matters." She found a gaudy necklace and without giving Snowflake a chance to say anything she put it on her. "You're missing some glasses."

Snowflake laughed warmly. "Oh, I'm the object of the dress up now?"

"It's just a costume," Miranda laughed. "Make believe. Pretend?"

"I get it. I get it."

Miranda found some glasses and held them out for Snowflake.

The gem put them on and made a pose. "How do I look?"

Miranda paused for a long moment. In some little way, she saw herself in Snowflake. She always envied how the gem seemed eternally young. In the same way, she thought about how far the girl had come since they first met.

"Mira?"

"Right!" Miranda shook her head and chuckled her warm, motherly laugh. "You look great."

Snowflake admired the atrocious shirt. "Hey, Mira?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think we can have a costume party some day?"

Miranda paused, surprised by the question. Then the biggest smile brightened her face. "I think we can."