aggregate function
"Jin, Jin! Did you hear, just there? That shopkeeper called me 'Miss'!"
And what was there to suggest it? The lithe frame, musculature disguised by bulky pauldrons and greaves? The long hair not yet long enough to drag a ponytail down into a rattail? The light voice that tended husky, rather than deep? The battle skirt worn for freer and fluider leg movement, principally?
All of this ambiguity, Jin considered a help. The less identifiable they were as a traveling party, the safer they were. If they were just a group of mercenaries with complementary strengths, rather than a "lady" or "girl" followed by two admittedly quite valuable Blades, they were less likely to arouse the suspicion of anyone who did, eventually, seek out the Paragon more directly.
Haze was a bountiful bubble of excitement at this minor misnomering incident, and Jin could see why. How clever, to be so well coordinated that you appear as a gentle woman, instead of an unbridled rogue. How mischievous, to cast a benign and apparatic spell. How wonderful, to slip right past probing eyes.
Probing eyes such as Lora's, studying Jin's face while he tried to decide whether this exclamation was a mark of offense or of genuine glee.
"Really? Were you buying anything in particular?"
"Oh, no, just hair ribbons for Haze - though we thought I might try them out, too."
Doubly emphatic became Haze's expression of agreement. Of course it would be more fun for her if Lora could share in her primping and preening. Of course they'd be buying twice the number of hair ribbons (well, possibly) if it truly was a Miss they traveled with - why, a lady!
Though differently to the pairing of his and Lora's, Lora and Haze's presents and futures both were demonstrably intertwined. As Haze willed it, Lora might experiment. And Haze's pants were decidedly feminine.
But this was Lora, and Lora would be just a touch further disquieted if she wasn't totally, autonomously on board.
Jin thought this noteworthy, if not remarkable. So he didn't say anything about it.